A Rock And A Hard Place
by T'Pring
Summary: John Sheppard is who he is.  And that usually gets him in trouble.  On trial for his actions during a mission gone horribly wrong, his team is forced to testify against him, his superiors have given him up for lost...and where the heck is McKay!
1. Prologue

_A/N: Hello! I have wanted to tell this story (or put Sheppard in this dilemma) for some time and only just came up with the way I wanted to do it. This is written partly to tell that story, and partly to collect my fanfic badge for a "Sheppard's in trouble with the law...again" story. Hopefully you will find it entertaining and a little bit disturbing. I do deeply apologize if my ignorance of the law or military justice is distressing in any way, no offense is ever intended, and gratefully corrected.  
_

* * *

"Sheppard, you can't do it!" 

John's hands clenched on the jumper controls and the head's up display came to life with the drone targeting program.

"_Can't_ McKay?" his voice was a dangerous growl. "Teyla and Ronon…"

"Knew the risks when they came through that 'gate with us this morning. We all did…do?"

John jerked his head, "So I'm just supposed to sit here and let that place suffocate the life out of them?" The growl was bordering on an anguished plea.

"No! I… I don't know!" John could hear the anguish in McKay's voice too, and the deep emotion spilling out of the carefully narcissistic scientist stayed John's hand more than any furious tirade.

"What do I do, McKay?" They were supposed to figure it out. They were supposed to have a plan that would save the day. That would save _everyone._

"I got nothing." Rodney tilted his head, then looked away in resignation. "If you fire a drone…"

"I KNOW," John bellowed, feeling like he couldn't bear to hear the argument even one more time. "If I don't, Teyla and Ronon die."

"You can't do it." Rodney's voice was very small.

John's hands flexed against the controls again, the mental command to fire so dangerously close to realization that the display flickered, then magnified closer to the target in a half-hearted attempt to interpret the pilot's conflicting signals.

_I'd do anything, for any one of you. If it meant laying my life down like Ronon was going to do, I'd do it._

John closed his eyes briefly – a last moment before the decision was made. The only decision he _could_ make. When he opened them again, they were determined and just a little bit sad. A drone leaped away from the jumper, disappearing quickly from their view against the vast bulk of the planet they were descending towards.

A small flash marked the drone's impact, then the point around the flash seemed to glow, spreading quickly outward in an expanding ring of red-black devastation. The circle of lava-like molten fire raced over the planet's surface, consuming fully a quarter of the planet's landmass with frightening speed before finally turning black and cooling at the edges. The circle ceased to spread, lying like a glowing boil on the devastated land.

"I can't believe you did it…" whispered Rodney.


	2. And so it begins

John tied his spit and polished shiny leather shoe, then remained bent over the edge of his bed, his face buried in his hands. For a long time, he just sat there, pressing his palms into his eyes, staying still even when the doorbell to his room chimed softly, once, then twice. At last, the door opened of its own accord and John smoothly slapped his knees to push himself standing and turned to face the animated man that had already taken a step inside the door.

"Colonel Sheppard! Ah, good, I see you're ready. Shall we go?"

"Major Mackey," John mumbled in tepid greeting. He opened his mouth to say something more, then decided against it, squaring his shoulders to stride across the room instead.

Mackey gave him the courtesy of exiting first, stepping aside and extending his arm towards the hallway beyond. John wished he hadn't. The whole formality thing grated on his nerves and only served to remind him that things weren't as they should be. The feeling was reinforced as he passed through the door and caught the worried, conflicted expression on the security officer's face that stood at attention to one side.

"At ease, Airman," John quipped softly and forced a cocky grin onto his face. "Nowhere for me to run, I'm afraid. And I'm a terrible swimmer."

The lame joke worked and the boy relaxed a bit and found a grin of his own. "_I'm_ not worried, sir, but I heard Dr. Weir had Dr. McKay lock down the jumper bay."

The security officer's tone was one of amused pride, in his commander's skill as a pilot and in his loyalty to that commander…despite his current duty as armed escort for said commander. Apparently his troops were inclined to remain supportive until convinced otherwise. But the knowledge that Elizabeth and McKay had shut down the jumpers felt like a kick in the gut to John. He thought they, at least, knew him well enough to know he'd lie in the bed he'd made for himself.

To hide his sudden glower, John turned on his heel and walked briskly down the hall, Mackey trotting alongside and the Airman following behind in an unconcerned lope.

"Today is just a preliminary hearing, Colonel," Mackey began in that soothing lawyer voice that John despised. "The IOA just want to get the facts and context sorted out before deciding on how, or even if, to proceed with formal charges."

"I know," John grunted crossly. He tugged at his starched and scratchy collar and glared at yet another expedition member in the hallway that was staring in open curiosity. A glimpse of John Sheppard in dress uniform was a rare and memorable event. Aside from funerals, and there were too many of those, he never touched the thing, even when dress regs recommended it. He'd seriously considered showing up to the hearing in his everyday BDU, but he was in enough trouble already without making an irresponsible first impression.

They would be able to make the claim of irresponsibility on facts alone.

Mackey wasn't put off, "I just mean to reassure you. You aren't required to testify if you don't want to, and there will be no permanent disciplinary action taken based on today's testimonies. You really don't have to worry, yet."

John caught the slight beat before Mackey's "yet" and threw the man an ironic half-grin. "They sent me _you_, Major. I'm worried."

"I volunteered. No, actually, I insisted. And you can call me Jack, Colonel."

"If I call you Jack, I'd have to let you call me John." John stopped, letting the implication of his silence sink in. Mackey frowned, and John went on lightly, "So, Major. Why exactly did you volunteer as legal council for a screwup Lt. Colonel who has more red ink on his record than black?"

Mackey just looked forward, his face unreadable. "Respect, sir. Lyle Holland was my cousin. I figure half of that red ink came from what you did because of him in Afghanistan. I was in the JAG corps then, too, and I watched your case go through the system. You would have done much better that time if you'd had better legal council. So, here I am."

John narrowed his eyes and studied the shorter man walking next to him for a long moment. The JAG officer's curly red hair and bright green eyes gave him a youthful look, but John could see lines of experience and maturity in the face. When Mackey's determined and admiring look met his gaze a few steps later, John felt a sick knot slide into his stomach and he looked away again.

"Here you are," repeated John softly. Then louder he said, "Sorry to disappoint you Major. This isn't like last time."

"No it's not, sir." Mackey said firmly. "You're in a heap of trouble that, from all the evidence I've seen, it looks like you deserve."

John laughed harshly, "Then why….?"

"Because I owe you one – for Lyle. And that doesn't mean I can get you off charges you've earned, but I can damn well make sure you get a fair hearing." With that, the lawyer pulled ahead to shake hands and bend heads together with a couple of other JAG officers that John didn't recognize. John clamped his jaw shut after realizing it had been hanging open, then chuckled in brief, genuine fondness. He was about to decide he liked Major Jack Mackey after all.

A half-dozen more steps drew him up to the conference room doors.

John paused, swallowing hard, feeling his pulse race and his breath coming in quick, silent gasps. Down below on the deck, the Stargate began to sing with an incoming wormhole, and he had to catch himself before turning towards the control room to go check things out. He saw Elizabeth leave her office to lean over Chuck's shoulder instead, and John jerked his head away from the scene, gritting his teeth.

Taking a single, shuddering breath, John closed his eyes and forced himself to step over the threshold and into the conference room. His SO escort followed him a step or so into the room, then looked around briefly for a spot of wall to prop up in continued guard duty. John threw him another half-grin that wasn't returned this time. From the look of conflict again on the man's face, John thought he must have been listening in to the conversation with Mackey, and his own grin faded swiftly.

The conference room was fairly crowded and the three gleaming wooden tables had been set up into a hollow triangle. The people he did recognize, Woolsey and General Landry from Stargate Command – representing the IOA and his own direct superior, respectively – along with Col. Caldwell were standing together along one side of the triangle. A fourth officer, JAG Col. Murgia by the stripes, pin and nametag, sat serenely in the center of the judge's table and was watching John enter the room.

With a jolt of anxiety, John recognized the olive-skinned, salt and peppered Murgia as the man at the head of the Stargate program's legal oversight – sortof an "Attorney General" of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as it applies to (or doesn't apply to) those serving in the Stargate program. John had seen many memos and command advisories cross his desk signed by Col Murgia, the unusual work they all did requiring frequent clarification and adaptations to the Uniform Code and Rules of Engagement. The original Earth laws had never had to consider life-sucking human-devouring Wraith, for example. Both John and Elizabeth Weir ran into sticky situations constantly, and had done so ever since their very first months on Atlantis.

For the most part, the JAG stayed off their backs and gave Atlantis a lot of legal leeway, recognizing they were forced to make unique decisions in completely unique circumstances. So the fact that Murgia was taking an interest in his case scared the hell out of John…and got his hackles up. He returned Murgia's scrutiny with a steely glare until he felt a hand slap his shoulder. Mackey was back.

"Pick a seat, Colonel. Somewhere to one side, I think."

Mackey was looking around for just such a seat when, still glaring, John stepped to the chair directly opposite Murgia, at the point of the triangle, and sat down firmly, folding his hands on the table. Mackey pulled a double-take, sighed and slid into the chair at John's left.

The rest of the room soon came to order. Caldwell, Landry and Woolsey sat down around Murgia at the judge's table. Ronon thumped John on the head as he passed by to sit next to Teyla and Zelenka? along the third table. Elizabeth rushed in a moment later to sit in the chair closest to John's at the opposite side of the point. John and Mackey were alone for the moment at their table, but the gaggle of JAG officers that Mackey and Murgia had brought stood in clumps against the walls, looking too enthusiastically interested for John's liking.

John looked back down the row of friends and chewed his lip. Ronon was slouched in a posture that looked bored with an undercurrent of hostility. The Satedan was clearly skeptical about the hearing and kept shooting John looks that seemed to either say, "Let's just get the hell out of here," or "Do you want me to kill someone for you?" Zelenka sat stiffly between Ronon and Teyla, looking nervous in an overly prim and proper sort of way. John still hadn't figured out why the man was here at all.

Teyla wouldn't meet his gaze and sat ramrod straight, her carefully blank expression focused entirely on the empty chair opposite her. The sick knot writhed inside John again and he stopped trying to catch Teyla's attention, looking around, instead, for Rodney. It wasn't unusual for the busy, permanently preoccupied scientist to be late, but he did think McKay would have shown up by now. The man was his best – or worst, depending on how things shook out – eye witness.

When Colonel Murgia cleared his throat, the room grew suddenly silent, and John forced himself to stop glancing at the door for McKay. Shuffling a stack of paper in front of him, the JAG Colonel began.

"This hearing is called to order. The objective for today is to determine whether there has been a violation of the Geneva Conventions Statues against the use of excessive force in a combat situation.

"Specifically, International law criminalizes:  
Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;

"The application of this understanding of the law requires, among other things, an assessment of:  
(a) the anticipated civilian damage or injury;  
(b) the anticipated military advantage;  
(c) and whether (a) was "clearly excessive" in relation to (b)."

The Colonel looked up from his prepared statement and fixed John with a long look. "The testimonies given today will be gathered for the purposes of assessing the conduct of Lt. Colonel John Sheppard during the mission under his command to E4E-C12 on April 12 of this year."

John met the Colonel's gaze, trying to keep his expression as confident as possible. But under the lingering, sternly passive scrutiny, John at last sucked in a quick breath and dropped his eyes to the table.

The moment was perhaps noticed by Major Mackey because he immediately stood and addressed the judges. "As we proceed, Colonel Murgia, I would like to remind the panel that the situation we are discussing was hardly a combat situation in any traditional sense, and that the hostile aliens involved were under no formal declaration of war. There are definitely questions about which laws are even in play here."

Murgia scowled, "Very little of what happens in the Stargate program is Traditional in any sense, Major. That is why we are holding this hearing, to get as much context as possible, and to understand the situation in the correct legal terms when charges move forward."

John gulped, continuing to stare at his hands. _When charges move forward?…I knew that guy didn't like me._ But Mackey sat down with a satisfied expression, resting his hand on John's shoulder as he did so in reassurance. There was a rustle of movement through the room as everyone seemed to shift nervously at once.

Col. Murgia, set one sheet aside and looked through his bifocals at the second. "We will begin with testimony from Col. Sheppard's mission commander, Dr. Elizabeth Weir," he said.


	3. Elizabeth Weir

Elizabeth sat a bit straighter and raised her chin to answer the Colonel with her best diplomat's voice, "I'm ready, Colonel."

"Will you describe for us the morning of April 12 and your orders to Colonel Sheppard as they pertained to his mission on E4E-C12?"

"Of course." Elizabeth nodded and flicked a quick glance at John who was sitting on her left. She expected to see him bristling in indignation, elbows askew and defensive smirk firmly planted on lips. Instead, he sat quietly leaning forward, his head slightly bowed over his hands that were clasped and resting on the table. The quiet resignation radiating from his posture was more unsettling than Elizabeth could have anticipated. It just wasn't…John.

She realized she selfishly wanted him to defend himself, to argue his side and somehow make her alright with it too. Instead, he seemed to be carefully avoiding her. Even as she began to speak, he never once glanced her way, although his eyes strayed to Teyla and Ronon often throughout her report.

"Colonel Sheppard and his team met me for a regular pre-mission briefing at 0830 on the morning of April 12. They were to explore an Ancient Outpost on C12 that the Atlantis database referred to as a manufacturing outpost. Dr. McKay was optimistic that a ZPM might be discovered at the site, or perhaps, even, plans on how to produce one of our own.

"We completed the briefing and Sheppard's team left Atlantis in Jumper 1 at 0930 hours…"

_----------------------- _

_John sat in the chair opposite Elizabeth's at the desk, his legs bouncing in happy agitation. "McKay thinks this could be the big one," he said with mock solemnity. _

_"McKay always thinks it's the big one…" Ronon muttered from where he lay sprawled across the chair in the corner, looking like a large cat that was pretending to be asleep, yet would scratch your eyes out if you dared try pet it. _

_"McKay can hear you, and this time we could really be on to something. E4E-C12 is not only a manufacturing outpost, something we've never seen before, but it is also sitting on an incredibly mineral rich planet. Naquadah, Trinium, you name it, this planet's got it. It's why they put the outpost there in the first place, and there's no reason to believe they wouldn't have manufactured ZPMs there, too." _

_"No reason except they probably didn't," Ronon muttered again, but Rodney was too excited about the potential discoveries to pay him much mind and stood, also bouncing, at Elizabeth's shoulder with his tablet tucked into his hip. _

_Elizabeth__ chuckled along with John and they exchanged a companionable eye-roll. _

_"Kick the optimism up a notch there, big guy," John chided at last, rolling his head towards Ronon, but his eyes were twinkling. "We'll go check it out. Teyla's getting the jumper ready as we speak. This outpost is a continent away from the Stargate, so I'm not walking it." _

_"Will you have a chance to meet any of the locals?" Elizabeth wanted to know. It was usually good manners to say "Hi" before snooping around on someone's planet. _

_John thought for a moment. "The people we know of are about a mile from the 'gate, living in another tiny cluster of Ancient ruins that provide shelter and little else. I'm thinking we send Corrigan's team through later for the diplomatic tap-dance, and we sneak by this time to check out the more interesting archaeology." _

_"Yes, it's unlikely any settlers that have come through the 'gate will have made it as far as the outpost, so we should be able to avoid the 'locals' altogether." McKay chimed in. _

_Elizabeth__ frowned, thinking it through diplomatically. She disliked the idea of trespassing, however recently the native people might have settled there. But they desperately needed ZPMs, as always, and the lure of the potential discoveries seemed to justify a little information poaching this time. _

_"Alright," she said. "But if we find something good, we go back and set up proper trade agreements." There were shrugs and nods all around. _

_"Very well. You have a go, Colonel Sheppard. Good luck and good hunting. Bring us back some ZPMs for supper." _

_"Yes, ma'am!" Sheppard pushed himself out of his chair and launched himself across the room and out the door, Ronon suddenly alert and at his side. _

_Elizabeth waved at their backs, then raised her eyebrow and turned towards Rodney who still stood next to her, smiling vacantly and seemingly lost in thought. "Rodney?" _

_"What? Oh, yes. I was just thinking about which systems I'm going to bring back online first, once we get that 2nd ZPM. WHICH I intend to keep this time, and no sharing with Earth!" _

_"Don't you think you'd better find one before you start hiding it in your sock drawer?" _

_"Of course. I guess I'll…just go pack, or something." And with that McKay wandered out of her office too... _

-------------------

"So. Colonel Sheppard was aware that the planet was populated as of the 0830 pre-mission briefing?" Colonel Murgia interrupted Elizabeth lightly, snapping her back to the present.

"Yes. MALP telemetry indicated a village or community of some sort near the Stargate. Another 'gate team was scheduled as a result of that briefing to make formal contact the following week, and begin trade agreements if anything of use had been discovered at the Outpost."

Murgia didn't seem interested in that information, "What were your specific orders to Colonel Sheppard regarding contact with the indigenous people and exploration of the outpost?"

Elizabeth felt a bit stumped, "The mission was to proceed under standard orders, Colonel. Investigate, learn what you can, talk to the locals if you need to and come home alive. Those were the 'orders', sir. I leave the details to Dr. McKay's research needs and Colonel Sheppard's command. They are the ones on the ground and in the situation. And the ones best qualified to direct the mission specifics as they unfold." She was aware that she ran the Atlantis 'gate teams more informally than Stargate Command did, but so much of their work was seat-of-the-pants that it seemed silly to map out detailed mission directives that would only change three minutes after walking through the 'gate.

"I see," Murgia jotted something down onto the sheet before him, then looked at Elizabeth carefully. "So Colonel Sheppard was functioning completely autonomously on C12?"

"Of course."

The moment she answered, she felt like she'd said something incriminating, although her intent had been only to express the independence – and the trust it implied – she allowed John's team.

"Very well. When did you next communicate with Colonel Sheppard's team?"

"When they returned from C12 that evening at 1830 hours…"

_------------------ _

_Elizabeth rubbed her eyes and realized that she'd read the same paragraph of the same report three times and still didn't have any idea what it said. Rubbing her eyes she glanced at the clock in the corner of her computer screen. 6:30. It had already been an 11 hour day. Time for some dinner she decided, standing up and stretching her back. _

_She was nearly to her office door when the alarms loudly announced an incoming 'gate connection. She could hear the Stargate chiming in its preparation to open a wormhole. For just a second, she toyed with letting Chuck and the others handle it – it was most likely only Sheppard's team reporting in for the day. Then with a sigh, she realized she'd never be able to relax if she didn't check it out herself. _

_She turned on her heel and strolled into the control room just as the security technician was saying, "Colonel Sheppard's IDC, I'm lowering the shield." _

_"Atlantis, this is Sheppard," The voice crackled over the speakers and Elizabeth frowned, something in the tone sounded…strained. "Have a medic meet us in the jumper bay, Sheppard out." _

_Elizabeth pounced on the radio button, "John, what's the problem? What's the nature of your injuries?" _

_There was a slight pause, "Teyla and Ronon got beat up a bit and nearly asphyxiated. We've got 'em on O2, but they're both still shaky." _

_At that, the jumper zoomed into the 'gateroom and came to a quiet hover on the arrival platform. After only a moment, it slowly began to rise towards the ceiling and Elizabeth caught a glimpse of John through the jumper window, slumped back into the pilot's seat and letting the ship take itself into the bay. She saw him tap his earpiece in a weary sort of way just before they moved out of sight. _

_"Actually, you should probably meet us up here too, Elizabeth." _

_She ran. _

_Skidding to a halt on the smooth jumper floor, she folded her arms across her chest and watched in worried impatience as the medics finished checking out Teyla and Ronon who were sitting on the back benches of the jumper, looking exhausted and filthy. They both turned down a ride on the nearby stretchers, but followed the medics meekly through the bay doors and towards the infirmary. _

_John and Rodney left the jumper soon after, but they didn't shut the craft down, she noticed. John walked up close and scrubbed his eyes, one hand on his hip. He also looked exhausted, and Rodney kept shooting odd looks at him from his spot at her other elbow. _

_"Rough day?" Elizabeth asked mildly, allowing the concern to show in the tone of her voice. _

_John just jerked his head. "You need to send a recon jumper team back ASAP. Tell them to look for any survivors and help any they find get out of there." _

_Elizabeth just nodded, this time not allowing the jolt of surprise escape, "Where do they need to search?" _

_"They'll know once they get there and get some altitude. Uh, actually, you better send 2 jumpers. I'll take a third…" _

_John waited for as long as it took for her to nod in agreement, then he turned back into the jumper, fully conveying his intention to leave again immediately. _

_Startled at the abrupt departure, she called quickly after him, desperate for SOME information about what was happening, "Wait, John. What happened? Survivors of what?" _

_John paused, his slumped back still turned towards her when McKay finally spoke in a breathless rush, "Teyla and Ronon got trapped in a forcefield and Sheppard melted a quarter of the planet to get them out." Elizabeth couldn't tell if McKay was impressed or horrified by his declaration, and in the end it only left her more puzzled. _

_"Just send the jumpers, Elizabeth," Sheppard said softly, then she was stepping back away from the hatch as it slowly lifted off the floor to close with a soft hiss. _

_"Rodney? What's going on?" Elizabeth fixed McKay with a stern look, and he sighed, his eyes filled with deep concern. _

_"Sheppard fired a drone at the power plant for the Ancient outpost to collapse the field that Teyla and Ronon were trapped behind. The drone destroyed the generator and set off a cascading firestorm in the atmosphere that literally boiled the surface of fully a quarter of the planet's landmass." _

_Elizabeth__ just stared. _

_Rodney looked away, then locked his troubled eyes with hers, "Elizabeth, the outpost was populated. Sheppard wiped out a city of 2000 people…to save 2." _

----------------

Murgia was taking notes again as Elizabeth finished her report, and there was a pause filled with shuffling feet and rustling fabric. Elizabeth pursed her lips and folded her own hands in her lap. Her small part of the story made it all sound bad, very bad. There was more to it, and she hoped Murgia would truly hear all of it. But in the end, even Elizabeth couldn't condone Sheppard's decision. Had she been there, she would have ordered him not to fire the drone.

Trying not to be obvious, she snuck a peek at John again. It was almost as if he were a statue, he hadn't moved from the same position since she began speaking. But was his back a bit stiffer? Was there bit more tension in the shoulders than before? _Damn you, John Sheppard! Just when I was really starting to figure you out, you go and…do something completely YOU!_

"Colonel Sheppard requested recon search and rescue the moment he returned to Atlantis?" Murgia was still jotting notes, and asked the question over the rim of his glasses.

"Yes."

"But he was the first to return to C12, and he was alone?"

"Yes?" Elizabeth wondered idly if Murgia was looking for an act of redemption in the detail, or if he was going somewhere else with the question.

"And the recon jumpers found no survivors?"

She took a deep breath, "No."

"Not even at the settlement by the 'gate?"

"No. The firestorm did not reach as far as the Stargate, but the settlement was abandoned. We speculate that the firestorm event, while not close enough to cause them any harm, was still startling enough that they most likely fled through the Stargate."

"Do you have any evidence supporting Colonel Sheppard's claim that the planet was abandoned _before_ he returned to search for survivors?"

_Sheppard's claim? _For the first time that morning, Elizabeth saw John sit back in his chair abruptly and exchange an angry look with the man she knew to be John's legal council.

She frowned, thinking for a moment. "I have only Colonel Sheppard's word – which I trust – that such was the case. Dr. McKay might be able to corroborate that particular point when he returns, Colonel Murgia. He is currently…"

"I have only one more question. Dr. Weir, can you tell me why you did not report this incident to Colonel Sheppard's superiors and to the Military Justice Authorities immediately yourself?" The words were spoken casually, but the implied rebuke was clear.

Elizabeth clenched her jaw and waited several beats before she answered, making certain she could do so confidently and respectfully, "Colonel Sheppard and I had a serious conversation on the matter and I entered a formal reprimand into the mission reports. To be honest, I hadn't decided yet on whether to take the matter further when I received notice that the Justice Division had already become involved—"

"Thank you, Dr. Weir. You may return to your duties if you need to. I imagine Atlantis is a busy post to oversee."

"I imagine Atlantis can survive for one morning without me, Colonel."

"Very well." With that there was a brief pause in the proceedings as Murgia leaned over to initiate a quiet conversation with the other judges, then began shuffling his papers again as he listened to their replies. The room rustled and Elizabeth suddenly heard a hoarse whisper at her ear.

"Where the hell is McKay?" John was leaning towards her slightly, but looked like he didn't want to be seen doing it.

"He's offworld," she replied.

"Doing what?!"

"I don't know exactly. He just said he had to do it before the hearing, and that, well, it might help."

"It would help _more_ for him to be here."

Elizabeth thought she heard a slight edge of panic in John's voice and she desperately wanted to offer him a word of reassurance, but Murgia had stacked his papers again and once again cleared his throat for attention. John shifted restlessly in his seat, and she caught him running his hand through his hair once, then – as if he had only just noticed the gesture himself – he abruptly folded his hands onto the table once more. He was again glaring at Murgia, and Elizabeth could hardly blame him.

Murgia finally looked up, the room fell silent. "The panel would like to hear next the testimony of Teyla Emmagan and Specialist Ronon Dex, members of Colonel Sheppard's 'gate team, and participants on the mission to E4E-C12."


	4. Teyla

Teyla raised her chin and turned to serenely face Colonel Murgia. Two chairs over, she watched Ronon out of the corner of her eye as he slid his chair back a good two inches and slapped his hands on the table, leaning forward in an expression of eager readiness. She knew that Ronon resented the Earth commanders for scrutinizing Sheppard's decisions. She also knew he agreed with those decisions and was eager to tell his side of the story. Their lives had been saved, after all, and they would not be here to give their testimony if John had not fired on the power generator. Idly, she realized that there would be no hearing at all if John had simply allowed them to die.

But Teyla was not so certain in her own feelings. She was grateful for her life, but she would never ask so many in exchange for it. John was a practiced warrior, and as a warrior herself who had seen much death and fought many battles in her young life, she understood the concept of collateral damage – to use Sheppard's own term. But as the leader of a people that had only barely escaped extinction time and time again, she could not so glibly sacrifice any life for any reason – especially when she was prepared to lay her life down.

John Sheppard was not without compassion, in fact, he was a man of deeply felt emotions. But Teyla had once before seen the warrior Sheppard coldly dismiss the lives of her family in the name of his mission and from a reluctance to get involved. That side of Sheppard frightened her, and it was that man that had made the decision to save her life over the lives of an entire community.

She was disappointed and confused and deeply saddened by the rift that now existed between them, the distance she herself felt the need to put between them until she sorted out her feelings. Or until he was taken away by his own people to suffer the punishment she couldn't bring herself to believe he didn't deserve.

"Miss Emmagan," Colonel Murgia spoke to Teyla first, either because she was sitting in the first seat or because the Colonel was reluctant to allow Ronon the chance to make his protest he so obviously wished to make. "Will you please describe the events for us as they unfolded on E4E-C12."

"Of course, Colonel. After I began packing the jumper for the away mission, Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay and Ronon joined me in finishing the preparations and we left for the Ancestor's outpost. Once we arrived, John took the jumper to stealth mode and we began the trip to the manufacturing facility…"

---------------------------

_"Ok kids, camp is an hour away so everyone settle in, and stay out of the marshmallows until we get there." _

_Teyla just smiled as Ronon grunted at John's exuberant nonsense and flung himself onto a back bench, again feigning sleep. Teyla had a suspicion that Ronon held in his heart some deeply personal anniversaries, and occasionally a morning would find him sullen and reclusive. In her experience, the mood would fade as the challenges of the day presented themselves. _

_"Are you scanning as we go?" _

_Rodney sat at the co-pilot's controls busily doing whatever he did. "Of course I'm scanning. This place is amazing. I'm reading gold deposits, silver, traces of Naquadah, diamonds... You know, if I wanted to set up a little black-market minerals operation, this is where I'd do it." _

_"Dread Pirate Meredith. Has a nice ring to it." _

_"Hmm, funny. If I were going to go pirate, I'd need some slaves to mine the stuff. You could be my slave driver. You've got enough practice cracking the whip on those grunts you call Marines." _

_"Those are highly trained and very scary grunts, McKay. I'd show a little more respect. And I don't want to be slave driver. I want to be the gun runner." _

_"Yeah?"_

___"Yeah. Car chases, high-speed-death-defying escapes from authority… that's the life." _

___"I guess that is more your style."_

_____"Definitely. Except I'd totally steal a jumper and skip the high-speed death-defying part…" _

_____Teyla listened to them banter on for a while, none of it making any more sense to her than the comment about swamp pillows, or whatever John had said earlier. When the light filtering in through the jumper's windshield began to fade into a whitewashed paleness as John turned off the stealth and took them into low orbit towards the other side of the planet's landmass, Teyla closed her eyes and let her mind relax. There was an issue in the Athosian settlement that she wished to meditate on, and as odd as it might seem, she found the pleasantly annoying bickering of her teammates a relaxing background for her thoughts. _

_____True to John's estimate, when nearly an hour had passed and the jumper had fallen into a comfortable silence – John and Rodney having finished planning the best way to run their illicit fantasy empire – they began to descend to the surface again and John called them all forward and to attention. _

_____"We're almost there. McKay, you getting anything on the sensors?" John asked, managing to concentrate on his course, the controls in front of him and the conversation all at the same time. _

_____"Yeah, there's definitely a massive power source at the sight where we estimated the outpost to be. And the atmosphere is getting more and more polluted as we approach." _

_____"Polluted? You mean as in smog and acid rain?" _

_____"Polluted as in chemicals I've never even seen before, charged free energy, and some really disturbing airborne accumulations of unstable molecules." _

_____"So… smog and acid rain." _

_____"I sure wouldn't want to live here, this place is an industrial disaster waiting to happen. Hey, should we go back for hazmat suits?!" Rodney looked suddenly alarmed and John just grinned. _

_____"Let's look a little closer before we turn around." _

_____Teyla understood enough to understand that the Ancestor's outpost had somehow caused the problems that were alarming Rodney. Her faith in the race that her people believed were the source of life in their galaxy had already been tested to the breaking point, and she felt another stab of sadness as the Ancients once more proved themselves only too human in their capacity for destruction. _

_____"So the Ancient Outpost is the cause of this pollution?" she asked, almost hoping there was another explanation. _

_____"Most likely," Rodney answered, still scrolling through page after page of information on the heads up display. "But I don't think it's supposed to be. All of these pollutants are byproducts that the Ancients knew how to scrub or render inert – Atlantis does it all the time. No, I think either the plant is not functioning properly, or we're about to discover a second Los Angeles out here. _

_____"You don't mean currently functioning, do you? You said the outpost was unpopulated. This is old pollution, right?" John's puzzled question was tinged with annoyance and Teyla almost smiled. John disliked being surprised, especially when it probably meant their job would become more difficult – there was a laziness about John that was inexplicably charming. _

_____"No, it's recent. Any…smog… the Ancients might have produced would have dispersed in the last 10,000 years," Rodney mumbled still reading quickly. A sudden blink brought up a screen covered with white dots that overlayed precisely with the landscape seen through the jumper's window. "And look: I'm reading multiple life signs. The outpost is populated after all…"_

_____-------------------------- _

"Excuse me, Miss Emmagan." Major Mackey smiled and interrupted her politely. "I find this an important point, here. As you approached the Ancient Outpost, even at that early stage in the mission, Dr. McKay had already determined that the environment was polluted and dangerously unstable?"

Teyla nodded and turned her head to address Mackey directly, all too aware of John's tense presence next to him. "Dr. McKay called it 'a disaster waiting to happen,'" she answered.

Zelenka suddenly squirmed and raised his hand in a small fit of excitement. Mackey didn't miss a beat and next looked at the fidgeting scientist and said, "Dr. Zelenka, what has the science team learned about the atmospheric conditions as they existed before the firestorm incident?"

Zelenka looked pleased to be allowed to speak and, pushing his wire-frame glasses further up his nose, he answered in an excitable rush. "The emissions from the outpost over several years had built up a kind of…chemical bubble… over a radius of several hundred miles within the troposphere. One compound in particular, which is quite an interesting by-product by the way – worth analyzing in greater detail due to its potential uses as a binding agent in the field of geo-chemistry…"

Major Mackey coughed politely and Zelenka blushed, fussing with his glasses again. "In any case, this unusual compound, when released in combination with the other emissions, acted as a binding agent, combining them into heavier compounds and preventing them from dispersing as they otherwise would. The resulting concentrations had reached a highly volatile state."

Zelenka stopped and there were blank stares all around, he shrugged and added, "It's actually quite interesting."

"And dangerous," Colonel Caldwell, muttered, pointedly audible.

"Most certainly," Zelenka agreed, forgetting he should probably wait to be formally asked. Then he gulped and glanced sheepishly at John. "The longer the buildup, the more risk there would be of a combustible event. At some point, the generator itself or even an electrical storm could have similarly ignited the atmosphere."

General Landry shook his head and spoke for the first time that morning, looking perplexed. "What is your point, Major Mackey? Are you really trying to reinforce the evidence that Colonel Sheppard was well aware of the atmospheric conditions that amounted to a planet sized powder-keg?"

"No, sir." Mackey replied firmly. "My point is that the volatile conditions were a pre-existing condition not of Colonel Sheppard's making, and a danger that would have eventually resolved itself destructively anyway." The lawyer looked at John, then held the eyes of each of the judges. "When working near a 'powder-keg', General, there's always a higher risk of getting burned."

Teyla shot a glance at John to see him smiling slightly at the Major's rather dramatic summary. But the smile was not smug or hopeful. Rather, she thought he seemed simply amused – as if he were watching an entertainment video with the rest of them but he already knew the ending. When he next sighed and bowed his head again, she suddenly, shockingly, realized that John sat there without hope. He already knew the ending – he would be punished and taken away. This proceeding was merely a step down the path he'd already foreseen. And accepted.

Her eyes suddenly stung in frustration, and she had to blink rapidly in an effort to return her concentration to the hearing at hand and Colonel Murgia's question.

"If you're through, Major Mackey. Miss Emmagan, please continue and describe for us the settlement you discovered at the base of the Ancient Outpost…"


	5. Teyla, con't

Miss Emmagan, please continue and describe for us the settlement you discovered at the base of the Ancient Outpost…"

---------------

_____"And look: I'm reading multiple life signs. The outpost is populated after all." _

_____Rodney pointed at the dots that represented life and Teyla leaned forward to better see the land below. The jumper was skimming along a vast, flat plain that was so smooth and green that for an instant she thought it to be a shallow sea. But instead of ripples of water and frothy waves, there were gentle dips of low hills covered in tall grasses and an occasional sparkle of a tiny pond nestled under the few taller shrubs and bushes that bordered the water sources. _

_____On the horizon a smoky grey mass was growing as they flew closer and Teyla saw the abrupt mountain range seem to rise out of the ground from horizon to horizon. The wall of rock facing them was a straight and striking cliff face, pocked with caverns and dents. The vast fields seem to simply run right up to the wall's foot and end, like a carpet reaching the side of a room. _

_____As the mountain cliff grew tall enough to eclipse the sky from their perspective, Teyla saw a cluster of simple domed dwellings become visible, small trails of smoke rising cheerfully from them. They reminded her very much of the shelters that her people built, and she was suddenly eager to visit with these people that had traveled so far from their world's Stargate, but already seemed so like herself. _

_____"Populated by who?" John finally wondered out loud, breaking the spell of silence the majestic scenery had cast upon them. _

_____"And how did they get here?" Rodney added. _

_____"Ancients?" Ronon asked hopefully, and Teyla smiled at him, pleased to see him becoming distracted into conversation by the puzzle. _

_____"I do not believe so," Teyla answered. "The camp at the foothills looks very much like an Athosian hunting village. Except that it is quite a bit larger than we would send away from the permanent camps. Perhaps they simply wandered over the continent from the Stargate. The plains look fertile and ripe for hunting, they would have food and water. It could be done. It would take many years of adventure, but it could be done." _

_____"But why?" Ronon grunted, rolling his head towards her in genuine bewilderment. "Why leave the 'gate? The Wraith come, you got nowhere to go." _

_____Teyla could only shrug. "Why don't we ask them." _

_____John and Rodney sighed in identical expressions of disappointment. They were eager to explore the mysteries of the outpost. She understood their frustration at the delay, but she was equally eager to meet these interesting new people. _

_____"All right," John said at last. "We'll do the meet and greet thing first. If these people do have the outpost up and running, they may even be able to show us around." _

_____The jumper slowed to a crawl and began to descend faster than it was moving forward. The shadow of the great cliffs swallowed them up, the sun already West of the East-facing escarpment. As they dropped, the rock seemed to scroll by from bottom to top of the jumper's window. Teyla realized John was taking the opportunity to scan the range for signs of the outpost and they were not disappointed. _

_____"Do you see that!" John exclaimed happily. _

_____About halfway between the sky and the ground was a deep and unnaturally regular opening in the cliff. John hovered the jumper in front of the opening and they caught a glimpse of a tunnel leading further into the rock. "Does that look like a jumper sized entrance, or what!" _

_____"I'm getting strong power readings, too. The rock must shield some of the signatures, but this entryway clearly leads to their source." Rodney sounded equally excited and Teyla was amused to have to remind them of their course again. _

_____"I'm sure the people below have seen us. We must make introductions and explain ourselves," she nudged mildly. _

_____"Got it. Say hello first." For all his eagerness, John was really a good diplomat at heart. The jumper continued to descend, leaving the fascinating tunnel behind, and by the time it had settled in a little patch of dirt just beyond the village's borders, a crowd had gathered to greet them with curiously alarmed stares…_

_____--------------------- _

Teyla looked at her hands before her on the table in concentration, wishing to be as accurate as she could in her remembrances. "We were greeted warmly enough, at first," she said. "After being taken to the village leader, a man called Ehman Lear, we were invited to stay for the evening meal and left to ourselves in his dwelling. We spent some time among the people in the village, then returned for supper."

"This native leader, Lear, he showed no hostility towards you upon arrival?" Murgia was now leaning on one hand, listening to Teyla carefully.

"Not hostility, no. But there was a definite wariness of our presence. Within the village, too. They were polite, but there was a constant undercurrent of suspicion in their dealings with us. We all felt it." Teyla looked briefly at Ronon who nodded firmly in agreement. The Satedan was still fuming at having been overlooked so far and said nothing out of spite.

"It was an unusual community in many ways," she added, hoping one of the panel would ask her to elaborate. Zelenka fidgeted at her side, as if he also was interested in that topic.

Murgia ignored the comment, however, and waved for her to continue…

--------------------------------

_____"What do you think, Teyla? Ronon? This Ehman guy gives me the creeps, but he seemed OK with our poking around the Outpost." The cool evening air of the village, deep in the shadows of the towering cliffs above them, fluttered Teyla's hair around her face and she brushed aside the tickling strands. The team stood in relative privacy, a few feet away from the patiently waiting jumper. _

_____The meal they had shared with Ehman was strained and uncomfortable. Teyla had talked long about themselves – staying carefully within their usual story that did not reveal too much about Atlantis itself, of course. Ehman, however, seemed evasive, answering few questions about his own people and always, however politely, redirecting the conversation back to Teyla and Sheppard. _

_____"I think they don't trust us. They seem quite surprised that we are here, and I believe they fear revealing too much about themselves. Perhaps they are worried we plan to steal something from them, or fear that we plan to force them to leave their home if we bring more people to the Outpost." Teyla was trying to make sense of the behavior of the people they were among, and she spoke slowly, thinking it through as she went. _

_____Ronon was not so deliberate. "I think they're up to something!" he declared, cocking his hip and resting his hand on the butt of his large weapon. _

_____"Well, that's helpful," groused McKay. "Up to what exactly?" _

_____"I dunno, but Teyla's right: They don't trust us. I don't trust them." _

_____John looked between the two Pegasus natives and nodded to himself. He had a gift for understanding the individual perspectives of his team and Teyla found herself curious about how he would reconcile their opinions. He finally looked at her and asked, "Any ideas on how to get these guys to like us a bit more? Elizabeth will be pissed if we screw up the diplomacy stuff before we even get to the good stuff." _

_____"I think it might help if I stay behind while you explore the Outpost. That would demonstrate our intentions to return and continue talks with them, as well as give me more time to become friends." She smiled brightly, remembering the first time she met John Sheppard and her own puzzled distrust of the man who had indeed become the best of friends. _

_____John returned the smile. "I hope they make better tea," he teased in a sidelong mutter and she rewarded him with a comical glare. "OK. You stay and make friends. Ronon thinks they're up to something so he'll stay with you. McKay and I will discover all the secrets of the Ancients and come back to check on you in…4 hours. These folks will be hitting the hay about then." _

_____Five minutes later, the situation decided, Teyla was watching the jumper slowly climb into the sky until it seemed merely another pebble against the boulders of the mountain cliffs. It hovered for a moment before the opening they had discovered earlier in the day, then slipped inside, disappearing from view. Ronon stood watching beside her, then gave her a resigned look. "Where do we go now?" _

_____"Let's find the Story Fire. That is as good a place as any for visitors to meet people." _

_____Ronon grunted, then followed at her right shoulder as she wandered back into the village properly, looking for gatherings of people. As they passed through the neat rows of domed structures, the paths among them grew suddenly crowded with people – all of them filthy, with dusty clothing and blackened faces, and all of them slumped with weariness. Most of the men and women quickly ducked into homes and many began to glow soon after with the light of candles and hearthfires. _

_____"They've just come from labor!" Ronon suddenly exclaimed. "I haven't met any of these men yet." _

_____Teyla nodded, watching a man and stripling boy enter a home together. A niggling, back-of-the-mind, not yet thought about thought suddenly exploded into consciousness and she stopped in her tracks to exclaim, "Where are all the babies?" _

_____"Huh?" _

_____"I have seen men, boys and strong young women. But I have yet to see any matriarchs or infants. A population this size couldn't exist without children! Ehman said there were over 2000 people living here." _

_____"Maybe they live somewhere else. Maybe this is just a labor village and the workers return to their home periodically."_

_______"Then where are the rest of their people? And what do they labor at? Ehman mentioned nothing about a second village. These people look like they have been digging or mining." _

_______"I told you they're hiding something." _

_______"I should have seen it sooner," Teyla suddenly felt exposed and wary. "They live like the Athosians so I assumed…" _

_______"That we were simpleton farmers, eeking a pitiful existence off the bounty of the land?" _

_______Teyla and Ronon whirled, drawing their weapons and instinctively stepping back to back. Ehman Lear stepped out from behind a domed dwelling and signaled to the growing group of armed villagers that were suddenly gathering around them. Many had short knives, a handful had projectile weapons that looked like they may have been traded or stolen from the Genii. _

_______Ehman strolled closer, a smug expression marring the handsome features of the village leader. "We are farmers no longer. We claim this outpost of the Ancestors for ourselves and we will defend it!" _

_______"We have no wish to take this place from you. We came seeking an alliance and trade! You saw our ship, we have much we could teach you about the outpost itself and how the Ancestors' technology works." Teyla struggled to remain calm and to pour as much persuasion as she could into her voice. At her back, she felt Ronon's body strung like a bow, taut with readiness to attack. "We could have simply flown to the outpost and taken what we wished. Why would we have stopped to request permission first if our intentions were not honorable." _

_______"Oh, I believe your intentions are honorable," Ehman chuckled. "In fact, you are just the type of honorable fools that are going to be quite useful." _

_______"I don't understand," Teyla was badly confused and felt herself growing angry. _

_______"You don't need to," Ehman replied. _

_______Ronon growled a low warning an instant before he leaped away from her and made a grab for Ehman. A brilliant blue flash surrounded him before his outstretched hands reached the tantalizing throat and Ronon crumpled to the ground. Teyla took a single step towards him when she felt the blue flash surround her next. Her body seized in painful, electric tingling and she sank to the ground. Her last image was of Ehman laughing and kicking at Ronon's limp torso in playful abuse, and then the world went black… _

-------------

Murgia tapped his stack of papers against the table to straighten them into alignment. "So the natives did not become hostile until Colonel Sheppard asked to explore the outpost, and after he and Dr. McKay left in the jumper to do so?"

"They did not become openly or physically hostile until then, that is correct. They were, however, very reserved and not very forthcoming with information. At the time, I believed they were simply nervous about our intentions and worried that we planned to steal from them, somehow."

Murgia went on, "Was Colonel Sheppard ever in a position to antagonize or threaten the local villagers or this Ehman Lear such that their suspicions were justified?"

Teyla jerked her head back in alarm and automatically looked towards Ronon, seeking the reassurance that she was not the only one surprised by the question. Ronon's eyes were smoldering in fury and she hastily answered lest Ronon do so first and in anger. She caught Sheppard's equally angry glance at his lawyer as she spoke.

"I do not understand, the question. We were there to explore the outpost, which we were given permission to do by the people who claimed possession of it. Why would we need to threaten anyone?" She unconsciously substituted the group "we", then realized she also felt accused by the Colonel's attack on John's motives.

"The question is, did Colonel Sheppard threaten any of the local peoples or intimidate them in any way to receive this "permission" you acquired?"

"No, absolutely not. In fact, I handled most of the negotiations and conversation with Lear myself. They are…were…much like my own people." The slip of tongue jolted Teyla into anxious confusion again. So many had died; an entire village that had been so much like her own.

"Was Colonel Sheppard ever alone with any of the villagers?"

Her heart beating with conflicting emotion – desire to defend Sheppard and by extension herself warring with unresolved anger at John for destroying the people she felt a kindred to. She stared at the empty chair opposite her. "I cannot account for all of his time within the Village," she answered at last. "We each went our own way several times over the course of the day."

Murgia paused the questioning to write on his papers, but the room remained broodingly silent. Teyla looked up at John and found him studying her, too. She offered no look of apology, for she had told the truth, but she felt the plea for forgiveness slip into her eyes. John smiled softly and nodded in an encouraging sort of way.

"Very well." Murgia slouched, his chin on his hand again. "What happened after you and Specialist Dex were stunned and taken into Ehman Lear's custody?"

Teyla shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "I do not know. I was unconscious for a long time. That part of the story belongs to Ronon." A slight, vicious smile played across her lips as she forced Murgia to allow the runner his chance to speak. Ronon flicked his eyes at her and a slow grin spread on his face as well.

Murgia affected not to notice, tapped his pen on the papers and then straightened with a deep breath to face Ronon. "Specialist Dex. Please describe the events of April 12 during the time you were prisoners."

"I'd be happy to," Ronon replied, rubbing his palms together, his smile wide and his eyes dangerous.


	6. Ronon

_------------------- _

_Ronon came to consciousness without twitching a muscle or so much as skipping a slow breath. Eyes closed and completely relaxed, he listened to the sounds around him and became aware of every inch of his body. There were low murmurs on every side, but muted as if filtering through a wall or divider. Warm, golden light flickered against his eyelids and he felt a slight warmth at his feet that were bound together tightly by thick, slightly prickly cord. _

_His neck began to ache as his chin lolled against his chest, but he kept it there, twitching slightly to test the ropes that were tied around his hands twisted behind him and bound around a thick pole. Finally deciding that he was, unfortunately, securely bound, he risked opening his eyes a crack, then slowly raised his head. _

_He was in one of the domed houses within the village, and not much time had passed if the evening shadowy light through the open door was any indication. The bored guard who sat opposite him suddenly jerked his chin off his hand, narrowed his eyes at Ronon, who returned the look with a defiant glare, and then darted out of the home. _

_Ronon writhed mightily during the guards' absence, but only succeeded in discovering that the binds were quite well tied…and that Teyla sat next to him, tied to the same pole and still unconscious. He called to her several times, then grew still and quiet when the guard just as suddenly returned, Ehman Lear and two others of his men in tow. _

_Ehman walked close to peer down into Ronon's face, ignoring the curled lip and the fury in his eyes. "What do you want," Ronon snarled, noticing even in his anger that Ehman had dressed up a bit since they had dined with him. The village leader now wore a fine leather tunic with intricate beading, and gold jewelry around his neck and on his fingers. _

_"Your ship," said Ehman simply. _

_"Only Sheppard can fly it," Ronon growled. Not quite true, but Sheppard could take care of himself, and McKay wasn't that good a pilot. _

_With sudden violence, Ehman lashed out with his boot and kicked Ronon in the hip. "Do you take me for a fool?" he asked in a growl of his own. "Do you think I have lived in the outpost of the Ancestors for two years without learning about the gift that only a few have for making the machines respond?" _

_Ehman squatted to meet Ronon's eyes directly, "Do you think I lead these people without that gift myself?" _

_Ronon considered the arrogant man: so he had the Ancient gene and could make some of the outpost's systems work…but, "You are no pilot." Ronon grinned with the insult, then hissed as his head was snapped to the side by a backhanded blow. _

_Without another word, Ehman left the tent, barking to his guards on the way through the door, "Bring them into the mines, take them to the vacuum cavern." And then he was gone. _

_The man who had been watching them earlier drew out a knife and cut Teyla's hands free first, then bent to jerk the blade through the ropes on Ronon's ankles. Ronon was within a nerve impulse of kicking his freed legs at the guard when the other stepped around and lay a knife against Ronon's throat. Ronon froze, waiting for another opportunity. Teyla at that moment suddenly groaned, then jerked her head up. _

_She had moved no further than to put one hand to an aching temple when another blue flash struck her and she flopped limply into Ronon's lap. _

_"Stop!" Ronon howled, feeling the knife nick a small cut in his neck as he lunged in fear that multiple stuns could be harmful to her. _

_"You won't be so tempted to bolt if you're carrying her, I think," said the third guard who held the stolen Wraith hand stunner and had it aimed squarely at Ronon's chest. "Get up, and pick her up." _

_The guard with the knife at this throat waited until he saw Ronon's small nod of defeat then reached down to cut his hands free. Ronon rubbed his wrists, then, rising to a crouch, wrestled Teyla into his arms and stood up. With a jerk of the stunner, Ronon was gestured out of the dwelling and the guards fell into wary escort around him. _

_They walked for a long time through the village paths, heading roughly in the direction of the cliff wall. Wondering why he hadn't just been carried to the outpost when they were unconscious, Ronon studied the people around him as he walked. Some villagers looked curiously at the armed escort of a stranger carrying a woman, but most would avert their eyes quickly if they caught any of the guards noticing their glances. _

_Like Ehman, the villagers had also dressed up since returning from their labor in the outpost. The dirty clothing Teyla and Ronon had seen them wearing before had been replaced with fine garments of silks or ornately decorated leather. Everyone wore jewelry and gems in such quantities that Ronon thought the people look gaudy, comical even. Were they celebrating some festival? Was this a special night for costumes and finery? Whatever the occasion, it was very clear that these people were inordinately wealthy, even by Earth standards. By Pegasus standards, it was downright gluttonous. _

_He was eventually led out of the village altogether and onto a rocky path that seemed to end at the edge of the great tower of rock itself. Ronon grunted and shifted Teyla in his grasp and was beginning to get an idea about why no one had wanted to carry him this far over rough ground. When at last they reached a towering crack in the jumble of rocks at the road's end, Ronon was sweaty and breathing heavily despite the cool evening air. _

_With a heave, Ronon finally slung Teyla over his shoulder, sending a silent apology to his friend – she would be sore from the manhandling. His escort never broke stride and they walked briskly through the crack into the complex beyond. The temperature dropped five degrees into damp chilliness as the cavern opened up before him. He stopped in his tracks, fascinated by the place, until he was shoved onward again. _

_It was the most unusual Ancient dwelling he had yet seen, Ronon decided. The starkly beautiful Ancient architecture seemed only half-finished within the cave. There were lights strung across the rough-hewn ceiling on long power cords, and a tall beautifully-wrought iron staircase at one end that rose several stories and led to yawning tunnel mouths off the main large room. Amidst the wide flat floor of the main room, Ehman's people had set up booths and tables and workbenches and forges, the primitive-by-comparison structures looking out of place and more humble than they deserved. _

_Due to the hour, there were few craftsmen and women at the booths, but Ronon caught a glimpse of a man pounding metal at an anvil, and a woman working with tiny tools on a small gold medallion, as he was herded across the space. Several more tunnels opened off the main floor, but most were dark and abandoned. Only one that Ronon could see was fully lit, a second tunnel near it was illuminated dimly and the lights flickered with the randomness of disrepair. _

_Every step he took was tense with the question of escape, and then every step denied him the opportunity – his escort remained wary, and Teyla remained worryingly unconscious, a burden he could not lightly toss aside. Resigning himself to the idea that the time for battle would come later, perhaps at his destination, he found himself led to a tall and wide set of doors of inlaid glass that reminded him more of Atlantis than anything he'd yet seen here. _

_The man holding the stunner swiped his hand over the door's chime and the panels split open with a soft shush. Ronon was shoved inside with the rest, the doors closed…and then they were somewhere else. The doors quickly opened again onto a completely unfinished landing that felt cramped and low compared to the cavern they'd just been in. He craned his neck as they emerged to catch a glimpse of the transporter's panel, hoping to understand how he might eventually return to the exit, but the display of shapes and Ancient text made no sense to him. _

_The floor was smooth but nothing else was. A jumble of tunnels bored out of bare, native rock spread away from the transporter, and again, only one tunnel was lit. Ronon was pushed into it and towards an open space just barely visible at the tunnel's end. _

_At the threshold of yet another enormous cavern, Ronon paused, reluctant to enter the vast and dimly lit space. A sharp and sudden shove tumbled him forward and he stumbled, then fought to control his fall and protect Teyla's limp head and shoulders as they crashed to the ground. They landed in a heap and Ronon felt his right elbow and shoulder lose a few inches of skin as he slid against the rocky floor. _

_"We're here, they're in." _

_Stunned for only a moment, Ronon struggled out from under Teyla – gently laying her down first – then leaped to his feet just in time to see a white flicker sheet over the tunnel he had just been shoved from. Roaring in frustration, he flung himself at the now invisible screen, finding himself not at all surprised when he was flung backwards again with a sharp sting and a noisy electric crackle. _

_Panting he glared at the three men who stood, just visible through the force-field's glowing translucence. They seemed to be waiting for something, and one of them was speaking into a small grille on the rock wall that Ronon hadn't noticed before. A prickle of fear began to creep down his neck, and he glanced nervously behind him into the vast emptiness of the space at his back, feeling exposed and completely unsure of what was happening. _

_A long moment passed when Ronon stood glaring at the men on the other side of the field who stood passively staring back. One man, that first young guard who had run out of the tent to bring back the rest, began to fidget under Ronon's steady stare, then blinked and looked away nervously. Ronon sucked in a startled breath. _

_He was a dead man. _

_That instant of regret in the guard's eyes had given everything away. There would be no interrogation, no second chance to fight his way out, no chance for Teyla to talk them out of their fate. Ronon knew, with absolute certainty, that Ehman simply meant to kill them. Whether or not the clever village leader meant to use their deaths or the manner of their deaths as leverage against Sheppard mattered little, they would be dead either way. _

_Staggering back a step, Ronon felt his heart pound in his ears and his body scream with adrenaline. But there was nowhere to go, nothing to fight. _

_There was a sudden grinding hum far above him at the cavern's topmost point and Ronon jerked his eyes upwards. An instant later, he had to slam his eyes shut as a blinding glare of two, three, maybe four powerful spotlights flooded the entire space with ultra-white light. Squinting, Ronon looked again through the force field. One guard spoke into the wall once more, then they all turned on their heels and simply walked away down the tunnel without a backwards glance. _

_Shielding his eyes, Ronon turned to the ceiling again, far above him, and felt soft movement against his cheek as enormous fans began to suck the air out of the room…_

_------------- _

Ronon raised his chin at Murgia. He was leaning forward with his palms on the table and grinning slightly as if everything had been cleared up and he was just waiting for the word that they could all just go home. As far as he was concerned, Ehman's cowardly attack, and dishonorable attempt on Ronon's own life forfeited any right to justice. As far as he was concerned, Sheppard had saved his life and that was the end of the story.

"What happened after the guards left?" Murgia asked taking notes as he spoke.

"I lost consciousness as the air was drawn out of the chamber. Sheppard took out the power which shut off the force field and stopped the air pumps. When I woke up it was pitch black. Teyla came to just a few minutes before Sheppard and McKay arrived with flashlights. We got the hell out of there."

Murgia tapped the end of his pen against his paper for a long moment, carefully studying Ronon who returned the regard with equal care. He lifted his eyebrow, daring the Colonel to ask the question he so badly wanted to answer.

"Specialist Dex, you expressed your concern about the attitude of the locals and Ehman Lear, in particular, to Colonel Sheppard before he left for the Outpost. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, I told him I thought they were up to something."

"And yet the Colonel ignored your warning and split the group anyway, leaving you behind in a hostile situation?"

"He didn't ignore my warning. He left me behind with Teyla _because_ I thought they were up to something."

"You don't think your team should have stayed together?"

"Teyla wanted to stay. At the time it made sense to."

"And in retrospect?"

Ronon was getting annoyed with the questions that seemed to him to have no point other than to waste his time. "In _retrospect_ I think we never should have even stopped at the village. We should have flown the jumper in stealth straight into the Outpost and taken what we wanted! What good is it to think in _retrospect?"_

"So, Dex, in your mind, because these people deceived you, they instantly became unworthy of courtesy?"

Recognizing that a trap was being set, Ronon leaned his elbows on the table, his voice taut with restrained anger, "Ehman deceived us. He plotted to steal our jumper, he ambushed us like a coward, he threw us into that death pit with no more regard than one would give to a goat being slaughtered for festival. _That_ makes him unworthy of courtesy!"

"And what if he was acting out of fear, rather than cowardice. What if he captured you in an attempt to protect himself."

"From Sheppard?! Ehman told Sheppard he had overtaken the outpost from another colony of settlers, that he'd killed or enslaved everyone and took it for himself. He may have been covering his ass, but he wasn't protecting himself from Sheppard."

"And his people as well? Are they all deserving of their fate because one man among them deceived you?"

"They didn't do much to help me out or stand up to Ehman, did they?" Ronon realized his voice was growing louder, but Murgia was trying to make Ehman the victim here, and that he could not tolerate. Ronon felt bad about the people who had died uselessly, but things were different in Pegasus. The Wraith changed how a person saw the universe: survival of the fittest was not a concept for animals only. Ronon understood this on a visceral level and a large part of why he remained with the Earth people on Atlantis was because he saw them as strong companions, fit enough to survive and maybe help some others survive along the way.

"So you agree with Colonel Sheppard's decision to fire a drone that, in direct result, massacred 2000 people?" Murgia's voice was only slightly louder, but it had become as hard as steel.

"Yes!" Bellowed Ronon, throwing up his hands and finally able to answer the only question that mattered to him. The only question that truly told his side of the story. Had he been in Sheppard's place, he would have made the same decision. Ronon would save his own, at any cost.

There was a brief, but cracklingly tense silence as Murgia paused to lean back a bit in his chair. Ronon kept his eyes locked on the Colonel, his instinct to keep the enemy in his sights fully engaged.

"Do you think Colonel Sheppard shares your opinion of Ehman? Do you think he felt the locals were deserving of contempt because they had shown contempt?"

"Excuse me!!"

Ronon was so startled by the polite but firmly insistent interruption, that he jerked his head towards the red-headed man sitting next to Sheppard, forgetting for a second the answer that had been on the verge of slipping through his lips. If the Colonel was startled too, he gave no evidence of it and simply turned to look at Major Mackey as well.

Having successfully earned the attention of Murgia, Mackey paused for a beat then spoke as if treading on eggshells, "Colonel Murgia, with all due respect, asking Specialist Dex to speculate on the opinions of his ranking commander is not only inappropriate, it's beside the point. This hearing was called to gather facts regarding Colonel Sheppard's _actions_ while in the line of duty. Colonel Sheppard's personal feelings towards the hostiles involved in the situation are not relevant. Only his military response to the circumstances needs to be considered."

Murgia nodded, then removed his glasses, setting them carefully on the papers that were again neatly stacked before him. "Thank you for your excellent council, Major Mackey. But, I do find the motives of Colonel Sheppard's actions entirely relevant, to my very great regret."

"Sir?" Ronon could tell that Mackey was puzzled by the answer and he shot a quick look at John who sat stiffly frozen, confusion and barely concealed worry etched into the lines of tension along his body.

This time it was Murgia who seemed to be treading lightly. "There is a great deal of evidence, circumstantial I'll grant you, that none the less I must consider when it seems to point to a pattern that ends in the destruction of an entire race."

Murgia paused again, "Colonel Sheppard may have simply been caught in a command dilemma that forced him into a no-win situation, and in that case there is certainly enough evidence to make a case for excessive use of force. However, I also must consider the very grave possibility that – faced with the temptation of riches, wealth and/or technology for Atlantis, and in command of superior weaponry combined with a conveniently unique environmental situation – Colonel Sheppard could have devised a plan to eliminate the local population for the purpose of claiming those riches for himself and Atlantis."

"What did he just say?" Ronon's plaintive question was desperate with the need to understand. John Sheppard had gone white as a sheet, and the observant runner had seen every body in the room shift in alarm. Even the three judges seemed taken aback and Woolsey dropped his forehead into one hand as General Landry and Colonel Caldwell turned to stare at Murgia in open shock. There was a long and agonizing silence.

"He said," John Sheppard spoke to the room for the first time that morning, his voice cracking with the effort to sound sarcastic, "He said that he's accusing me of Genocide."


	7. Hits the Fan

_A/N: I'm back! Well, actually this "little" story has just been a bit testy in putting itself onto the page. But I think I've got it on the run, and am again enough chapters ahead to be able to post the final chapters in a satisfying and satisfyingly prompt fashion. Enjoy!_

There was an explosive silence, then the room around John burst into rustling, agitated movement, and, in the case of the squad of JAG lawyers, murmuring and hissing conversation. John saw Ronon throw himself limply back into the chair with a look of utter bewilderment and Elizabeth's posture as she sat next to him was so tightly strung he thought she might fling over the table if she lost control. Their complete surprise and looks of disbelief were no small comfort. The looks of thoughtful doubt flickering on the faces of his superiors were no comfort at all.

For his own part, John felt so numb with terror that his own declaration had hardly sunk in past the "Oh, Shit…" stage. He felt his elbows fly out and his back go up, the defensive body language signaling a slow burning anger kindling underneath the fear. He was suddenly, completely, grateful for Jack Mackey's presence when the lawyer stood up urgently to address Colonel Murgia. John would have probably found himself in the brig if he dared to say any more.

"Sir! A claim of Genocide at this stage in the investigatory process would be extremely premature. To even consider such a charge, the prosecution would have to find significant evidence of Colonel Sheppard's _intent_ to destroy the population. Considering that we have yet to hear any testimony from either of the witnesses who were actually present at the moment the drone was fired, any discussion of intent without that context is suspect. Furthermore, we have no information about the race or culture the people populating the outpost represented. The destruction of this one settlement many only represent a small fraction of the culture that exists in this galaxy, and a claim of genocide would require proof of intent to destroy the entire culture, on this planet and beyond!"

Colonel Murgia was smiling slightly and had raised his hands as if warding off an attack when Mackey finally took a breath long enough for the Colonel to interject a hasty, "Stand down, Major!" Mackey swallowed his next protest and stood straight again from where he had been braced with both hands on the table, leaning towards the judges with fervent intensity.

Murgia waited until Mackey seemed to have himself under control, then went on, "Major, nobody is throwing around the accusation of Genocide except Colonel Sheppard himself. As you suggest, such a claim would be…premature." The Colonel raised an amused eyebrow, but then his expression turned serious again and he folded his hands together in front of him.

"I do, however, see enough evidence to continue a deeper investigation into the incident and am going to add a criminal investigation to the ongoing evaluation of military necessity."

John shot a look of panic at Mackey, but the Major was still standing his ground; standing John's ground John realized.

"A criminal investigation to explore what charges, exactly?"

"The exact charges need to be considered, but in essence: Colonel Sheppard's motives in firing the drone and the possibility that he planned the destruction of the outpost's population for personal gain, then returned to intimidate the remaining population at the 'gate into leaving before anyone else from Atlantis could examine the crime scene, for starters. Once prosecution has had time to look into the allegations, they will bring forward specific charges for a separate grand jury hearing if they determine there is a case. A formal trial to prosecute the charges of excessive force will be delayed until prosecution makes their recommendations." Murgia was straightening his stacks and reaching for the briefcase at his feet as he spoke, indicating with his actions that he considered the hearing complete and the matter over for now. The mood was somber and silent as the rest of the room struggled to process the events that seemed to be ending rather abruptly.

John felt the panic in his gut twist with the realization that he would most likely be taken from Atlantis and held formally in military custody as Murgia's "deeper investigations" took place. He looked wildly for a moment at Teyla and Ronon, then shot a glance at Elizabeth, none of whom could meet his eyes for very long, but at least they were here. Here he was among friends – friends whom he had disappointed and perhaps even alienated beyond repair – but friends, none the less, who deep down understood something about why he'd done what he'd done.

John looked at Murgia. "It didn't happen that way," he said.

Murgia looked up, puzzled at the statement and John repeated, "It didn't happen the way you think. I didn't plan for that to happen. I didn't…murder those people to steal their Mines or their technology." His voice was soft and yet firm, the quiet strength of conviction.

For a moment, Murgia almost looked sympathetic. "I hope that is the case, Colonel Sheppard. I really do."

"Then finish the hearing. Get the whole story and knock off this criminal charges crap before you go so I can get on with the ass kicking I _actually_ deserve."

Major Mackey about had a seizure in his seat at John's less-than-tactful and probably unwise statement, but Murgia just answered with a touch of confusion in his voice, "Without Dr. McKay, there is no more testimony to be heard…"

Dr. Zelekna suddenly waved wildly from his seat and blurted out, "I have been thoroughly briefed on all the technical evidence that is relevant to the mission to E4E-C14. Dr. McKay gave me his written statement to present to this hearing and I can act as his testimony!"

So, _that's_ why he's here! John thought suddenly with a small smile for the enthusiastic Dr. He was grateful to both McKay and Zelenka for preparing to that degree. But he was still furious with McKay for not being here. McKay's absence was leaving too big a hole in the story; too much of a gap for Murgia to wedge his murder charges into – or whatever legal mumbo jumbo he wanted to call them. Murgia needed to hear how hard they had worked to figure it out; he needed to know how little time they'd had; he needed to hear the panic in McKay's voice as he described how their last attempt at a solution failed.

Murgia looked kindly at Zelenka, but shook his head, "Thank you, Dr. However a technical assessment at this point would be more relevant to the evaluation of military necessity, which I'm considering on hold. What _would_ be relevant would be Dr. McKay's assessment of Colonel Sheppard's actions and motives during the final hours of the C12 mission, but despite your preparation, Dr. Zelenka – which I thank you for – you simply weren't there."

"_I_ was there," said John through gritted teeth.

As Murgia turned back to stare appraisingly at John, Major Mackey leaned over hastily to hiss in John's ear, "Colonel, I'd advise you not to testify, yet. You could hurt yourself in the long run if you say something rash today. You'll get your chance, I promise…"

But John was ignoring Mackey and met Murgia's eyes firmly. Murgia put his hand to his mouth thoughtfully. "You are not required to give testimony, Colonel. And I'm sure that your council is telling you right now that it's probably not a good idea."

"Yes he is, and I know that. I also know I have to do this." He continued to hold Murgia's eyes for a long moment, until Murgia finally nodded.

"Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, are you are willing to testify to the events of April 12 and your own actions on the mission to E4E-C12?"

John took a deep breath and glanced briefly at Mackey as if in apology. "Yes. I am," he said.

-------------


	8. John

_---------------- _

_The rock wall of the cliffs scrolled by the jumper's window, this time from top to bottom, as the little ship slowly rose away from the village floor. Rodney fairly squirmed with anticipation and was already poking at his ever-present tablet computer, preparing it for the riches of information he seemed to be certain they soon would receive. When John tuned in at last to the stream of consciousness babble that had been running from McKay's mouth since the hatch had shut, the scientist was saying something about ZPMs and D Cell batteries._

_"Once we know how to tap into subspace, and possibly even have a facility capable of the required manufacturing processes, we can start sending them back to Earth and still have enough to keep some spares on the shelf…"_

_"Ronon's right, McKay. You really do think every discovery we make is going to find us a closet full of ZPMs."_

_"Well, the law of averages should start to work in our favor one of these times, don't you think."_

_"I think the law of the needle in the galaxy-sized haystack is more likely to trump your law of averages at any poker table."_

_Rodney ignored the comment and continued to concentrate on his tablet in silence for a change._

_"Here's the tunnel," said John a moment later, bringing the jumper to a hover just beyond the dark hole in the rock wall._

_Rodney glanced briefly at the heads up display and waved him on, "Go ahead, I'm sure there's a jumper bay or something in there…"_

_"Or something." Blowing out a quick breath, he nudged the jumper forward and they flew slowly into the black cavern._

_At about the point where the tail of the ship had passed into blackness and John was about to slow down even further to avoid outrunning the jumper's small forward lights, the tunnel suddenly lit up like an airport runway and they began to zip forward. A small message appeared on the heads up display, flashed, then slid into the corner to blink with a patient glow. John raised his hands in the air and leaned back in the seat._

_"Woah!" he said. "Automatic pilot just took over. It supposed to do that?"_

_"Probably," said McKay trying hard not to look out the window and John suspected that the dizzying sight of the tunnel walls slipping quickly by them was too much for the claustrophobic scientist. "From what little geographical information I can get through the rock's interference, I'd say the tunnel goes deep into the mountain we're under, perhaps a couple of miles. Automatic pilot probably kicks in when the jumper passes the entrance, it can guide the ship through this maze much faster than a human pilot."_

_"Says you. All right then, we get to sit back and enjoy the ride." And John did just that, completing the picture of nonchalance by looping his fingers behind his head and jogging his knee under the dashboard. A boring minute of flashing walls went by and John decided he hated automatic pilot. He'd rather pilot himself, even through monotonous tunnels, if only to have something to do while looking at said monotonous tunnels._

_"If the automated systems are kicking in, it must mean that some of the outpost is up and running. That's a good sign, you think?" John asked, deciding to risk a science lecture to pass the time._

_"Unless they're _automated_. In which case it doesn't really mean anything except they've got some batteries with a charge still plugged in." Rodney whipped up his head, then suddenly turned to John with a wide grin. John grinned back.  
_

_"A ZPM," they both said in unison._

_The tunnel before them went completely black._

_At the same instant, the jumper slowed to a sudden halt with an abruptness that would have thrown them through the windshield had they not enjoyed the benefit of inertial dampeners. John blinked in surprise and grabbed for the controls, squinting in an effort to see into the inky tunnel on the other side of the window. The lights inside the ship dimmed in response, reducing the glare, but there was still nothing to see but a whole lot of dark just beyond the splash of the forward lights._

_"You think the batteries just ran out?" John asked, giving the jumper a nudge forward._

_"Unlikely coincidence. But maybe the automated systems failed from age or disrepair. We can go the rest of the way manually, I guess."_

_"I'm trying. Controls aren't responding. Oh, hey! The autopilot is still on, no wonder." John poked a few buttons, grasped his hands on the controls even more tightly. When the ship continued to remain stubbornly motionless, John closed his eyes briefly in deep concentration, then snorted in exasperation and threw up his hands. "I can't turn it off either."_

_"The outpost must still be in control," Rodney muttered, poking at the co-pilot's dash himself._

_"Can you override or something?"_

_"I'm working on it! Look, I got stuck in an elevator once and this is bringing back very uncomfortable memories for me, so just give me a second to think."_

_"O-Kaaay," John said with mock sympathy and genuine mischief. "What happened? Were you forced to endure inane conversation with mere humans? Or maybe you were trapped with a large sweaty man who wouldn't share his candy bar..."_

_McKay managed a haughty look in John's direction. "If you must know! I was trapped with a beautiful woman and we made love for hours until we were rescued. She got pregnant and bore me a love child. Now, all elevators remind me of the son I've never known."_

_John crossed his arms, chewed his lip and stared at McKay. "That didn't happen!" he said finally, as if truly in doubt._

_"Of course that didn't happen! Things like that don't happen to me. The candy bar version happens to me. Beautiful women in elevators happen to you!"_

_"Damn, I wish."_

_"Would you just let me work, here." McKay pointedly turned his shoulder on John and began to poke at the controls even more furiously. But he didn't sound nervous or panicky any more and John chuckled._

_"That was a good one, McKay."_

_They were interrupted from any further arguing when the heads up came to life with a video image and a burst of static through the speakers. Staring with undisguised surprise, John was suddenly confronted with the smug image of Ehman Lear. The community leader who they'd only met briefly and only shared one awkward meal with seemed to be sitting in a control room somewhere within the outpost, the obviously Ancient architecture and piano-like control panels just visible behind him. Ehman looked remarkably comfortable among the advanced technology, but the cheerful arrogance on his face immediately set all of John's alarms off, and he went from puzzled to pissed off in an adrenaline charged heartbeat._

_"Colonel Sheppard, I thought you to be a cunning warrior, and yet you've fallen into my trap so easily!" The man's voice was as smug as his face, and the words only confirmed John's suspicion._

_"What do you want, Lear." McKay jumped at the sudden anger in John's voice, and John saw him glance over before returning his attention to the viewscreen._

_"Your ship."_

_John narrowed his eyes, sizing up Ehman with an unfortunately practiced eye. What he saw was frankly terrifying. Ehman was opportunistic -- direct and to the point. He would not be prone to monologueing, nor to dallying around with his threats. John decided to return directness with directness._

_"So now's the part where you tell us what we're supposed to do and why we should do it."_

_"Indeed. I am in control of the ship. Once I allow it to resume its course, it will land within the research facility and you will permit my men to take you into custody."_

_"That's the 'what'," John muttered to McKay, while Ehman went on._

_"Your companions, Teyla and Ronon are already my prisoners. If you do not surrender quietly.."_

_"I know," John interrupted, annoyed with the game. "You kill Teyla and Ronon if we don't play nice and do what you want." A cold icicle of fear trickled down John's neck. Damn, he'd just wanted to poke around, find some stuff and go home today…_

_Ehman chuckled and looked at something in his hand with indifferent scrutiny as he replied in an equally careless tone, "Not at all. They will die either way. Their only purpose is to demonstrate my resolve." Ehman suddenly looked up and stared into John's eyes and they flashed with the challenge. "Your cooperation determines only your own fate. If you permit my men to take you into custody, I will permit one of you to return to your people with my message of warning and a signed treaty promising that you will not return."_

_"__One of us?" McKay blurted out and John glared at him for interrupting._

_"Yes," Ehman heaved a hugely false sigh. "You see, I haven't decided which of you to keep, yet. Teyla Emmagan spoke highly of McKay's skill with the Ancient technology, but Colonel Sheppard might be more useful in his ability to use it, and in his ability to teach me to fly my new ship."_

_"So we're supposed to consider enslavement as a motivation for, say, not kicking your asses and ALL going home?" John's voice dripped with furious sarcasm. He suddenly had no doubt that Ehman was capable of killing Teyla and Ronon simply to make a point. The trickle of fear was rapidly growing into a spike of terror, twisting his stomach into tense knots._

_"Do not underestimate my soldiers, Colonel Sheppard." Ehman's voice went suddenly low and dangerous. "They are skilled, experienced warriors, and they outnumber you 10 to 1."_

_"Experienced are they?"_

_"We overthrew the colony that found this place before us. Our predecessors were clever, but greedy and spent no time on defense, working only on the crafts and the mining. Those that survived serve us now. We do not repeat their mistake."_

_"Overthrew? A continent away from the Stargate?" Muttered McKay, but John was studying Ehman._

_The key to a man like this was to let him think he'd won. Arrogance bred over-confidence, but a direct challenge would bring out the pit bull and force him into acts of violence to regain control. John chewed his lip a moment longer then shot a brief look at McKay._

_"Can you override the automatic pilot, McKay?" he asked, never taking his eyes off Ehman._

_"What? Maybe, but not likely before we get to the end of this tunnel, once we start moving again that is."_

_Forcing himself to look defeated, John slumped in his seat. "All right. We'll do what you want, Lear. Just consider keeping Teyla and Ronon alive. They might be more useful to you than you think."_

_Ehman smiled, "I'll consider it." The screen went blank._

_"Are you crazy? Are you really going to do what he wants?" Rodney's voice was incredulous._

_"Of course not. _Can _you override the autopilot?" To emphasize the question, the lights in the tunnel blared into screaming brightness again and the jumper moved forward, gaining speed as it went._

_"I just told you! It would take too long, and most likely damage the ship's ability to receive any communication of any kind."_

_"Just checking…" John breathed as he leaped out of his seat to begin frantically rummaging in the rear storage compartments. McKay took a nervous look at the flashing tunnel walls then also wandered into the rear, watching John's activity with anxious curiosity._

_"So, what do we do?" Waiting quietly for instruction was not one of McKay's strengths, thought John with disgust, trying to concentrate fully on his task in the time they had left to them._

_"Does the autopilot override other systems, McKay?"_

_"What other systems."_

_"Like drones and stealth mode for example?"_

_"Uh, no. But you can't fire a drone inside this mountain! You'd take us out along with the bad guys and most likely collapse the tunnel if we did manage to survive."_

_"I'm not going to fire a drone in the mountain. At least not yet. Ok…" John snatched for a flashlight, shoved another P-90 magazine into his vest, then clipped the weapon itself onto the front of his vest. He turned to McKay. "We've got to get out of the jumper before it reaches the end of the tunnel. Lear is smart, but he probably doesn't know everything about jumpers yet. We'll put it in stealth mode before we leave. While they're trying to figure out where we went, we'll be trying to figure out where Teyla and Ronon are."_

_"Ok, ok," Rodney was nodding as he thought through the plan. "Wait! What do you mean get out of the jumper? It's going like 30, 40 miles per hour down here!"_

_"It'll probably slow down when it gets closer to the end." John shoved a spare 9 mil clip into Rodney's vest, and a wraith hand stunner into his hands._

_"And what if it doesn't slow down?" McKay stood holding the stunner in the air distractedly as John returned to the cockpit for a life signs detector and the ship's remote, both of which also got tucked away. He touched the controls for a brief instant, thinking "__stealth", then ended up back by Rodney who hadn't moved an inch._

_"Then…it'll hurt a bit more. Come on."_

_John took one more look around the ship, thinking through the ordinance he needed, then pulled the lever that would open the back hatch. A rush of noise joined the whipping breeze that blew in from the widening crack. When the hatch was fully extended, John could see the strange sight of the tunnel walls sliding away – from his perspective at least – and closing into a tiny point of darkness as the lights shut down in shifts once the jumper passed through. The ground just below the very edge of the hatch was a blur of motion._

_"Maybe I should stay with the jumper. I could, you know, scout out the destination." John pulled his gaze from the interesting scenery and saw McKay gulp nervously and wipe sweat off his brow._

_"I need you to find a control room for me with internal sensors. It'll be fine – like falling off a log!" John grinned and was rewarded with a patented McKay glare with shoulder shrug._

_The next minute passed tensely as John waited for the right time to jump. Too soon and it would take too long to walk the rest of the way. Too late, they would be seen by those waiting for them at the end once they fell out of the jumper's cloak. He shot a nervous look through the forward window, still seeing only black tunnel walls ahead. He shrugged his shoulders to shift the weight of his heavy tactical vest, then looked at the ground passing below again._

_When the jumper did finally start to slow, just barely noticeably, John took a deep breath, took hold of Rodney's arm and eased them both out to the very end of the ramp. "On the count of three: One, two, jump!"_

_Giving McKay a merciless shove so that the fearful scientist would be committed, they stepped out of the jumper and met the rushing ground. John landed on his heels and immediately rolled with the displacement of momentum, taking the punishment on his hip and shoulder, but managing to spread the impact enough to avoid any serious injury. He came to a stop on his butt with his legs sprawled out before him and looking at the rear of the invisible jumper as it continued on its way. The soft hum of its engines faded into silence to be replaced with disgruntled groaning._

_Twisting this way and that, John finally spotted McKay sprawled out on his belly a few feet behind him. With a groan of his own, John stood up and knelt to put a hand under McKay's arm, then heaved the scientist to his feet. McKay stood staring at his palms, which were in fact a bit scraped up until John tugged again at his arm and began pulling him after the jumper._

_"Let's move. It won't take them long to find the jumper, someone's bound to bump into it eventually."_

_"I think I was able to get the hatch closed," Rodney panted waving another jumper remote in his hand. "I pushed the button before I fell…"_

_John was impressed, "Nice one, McKay! Let's go."_

_He took one step and the lights went out, plunging them into utter black. But John just flipped on the flashlight attached to his P-90, dug the other flashlight out of his vest to hand to McKay and they were quickly jogging down the tunnel…_

_----------------- _


	9. John, con't

Murgia seemed completely absorbed in John's testimony and even his pen lay idly limp against the table. "Colonel, you said that Ehman Lear told you outright he was planning to steal your ship and murder your teammates?" His voice seemed a bit skeptical, and John forced himself not to let annoyance bleed into anger, at least outwardly.

"Yes, sir. This Ehman guy wasn't prone to beating around the bush. I hoped I'd stalled him on his decision to execute Teyla and Ronon by appearing cooperative, but either he didn't buy it, or he didn't care."

"Your teammates have said that the community in the village seemed happy and prosperous. Specialist Dex described them as inordinately wealthy."

"I suppose. I didn't see them all dressed up."

"But you describe Ehman Lear as a ruthless thug, capable of murder at the least provocation and willing to plot the theft of valuable property from friendly strangers with no remorse. To me, the two facts seem incongruous."

John could see where Murgia was going – and perhaps he was a bit influenced by his own hatred for Ehman. But there was no denying what the man had done. John thought about it for a moment, then suddenly recalled his idle conversation with McKay the day of the mission.

"Ehman Lear was something like – well – more like a pirate than a dictator."

"A pirate," Murgia just repeated the observation with dull disbelief and Mackey had covered his face with both hands, but John plowed on.

"You know: ruthless and bloodthirsty, but loyal and generous to his own crew, his own people. They were doing the mining, making the jewelry and stuff, I guess, and he was captain of the ship. He saw us as rivals and he'd killed before, when his people raided the outpost from the previous settlers. I'd bet anything that Lear saw the jumper as a way to finally get his merchandise to the Stargate, the temptation for even more wealth and influence on other planets was too much. He had to have it."

Murgia didn't look particularly convinced, but he didn't look mad either, so John held his breath in hopeful patience. "Very well," said the Colonel. "Once you abandoned the jumper, where did you go next?"

"The end of the tunnel opened out into a jumper bay just like ours here. Ehman's welcoming party was milling around on the landing pad so the invisible jumper was just hovering above them, waiting for them to move out of the way. They could hear it, but not see it, so it really threw them for a loop.

"McKay and I managed to get past into the hallway beyond while they were distracted, and began looking for a control room. Unfortunately, Ehman's guys were all over the place and we were spotted in a corridor. Weapons fire was exchanged and we took refuge in the first lab we could find…"

------------------

_"Go Rodney!" John yelled the command and pinched off another burst of fire, yet again forcing the handful of Ehman's soldiers against the walls of the corridor. John took the mere seconds of distraction to shove the still hesitating McKay into the nearest room that opened up to them and swiped at the doorway's controls once they were both through. The door slid obediently shut._

_"Lock it, McKay!" he bellowed, hearing the slap of footsteps grow louder in the corridor beyond._

_Rodney looked around bewildered for a moment, started towards the console in the middle of the room, hesitated, then turned back to the door._

_"For the love of…" John snarled and pointed his P-90 at the slim control strip that would open the door again with a touch, hoping that the Ancients had seen a few movies and knew to lock the door permanently when the panel got blasted._

_"No wait!" McKay yelled and pointed his own stunner at a different panel that lay further down the wall. The scientist pumped two rounds into the mechanism and it sparked a bit with the charge just as the feet outside the door skidded to a halt. Panting, John held his P-90 ready, high on his shoulder directly in front of the crack down the middle. There was a chime as the men on the other side touched their controls, John's hands gripped his weapon tighter._

_The door stayed shut._

_Another chime was followed by furious pounding and McKay finally slumped in relief, "Oh thank goodness. I didn't think that would work."_

_John lowered his weapon slightly, but remained firmly planted before it. "Just find out what's going on McKay. Where is Lear holding Teyla and Ronon, because that's where we're going next." John knew that Ehman wouldn't wait around to make his point or have his revenge. His first priority was to get to his team, and he felt the urgency like a ticking time bomb counting down inside his skull._

_Gratefully, McKay didn't argue and scurried over to the single console and familiar hanging viewscreen. "This is just a small lab, like we've got all over Atlantis. It won't be linked to everything, but maybe I can get to the primary database at least. The console began to glow at McKay's touch and the screen overhead blinked into life and began to scroll Ancient text across the surface._

_A few minutes of breathless silence passed and John heard a pair of feet jogging away again, presumably to go for reinforcements or some tool to open the door. Nervously, he left his spot at last to hover over Rodney's shoulder._

_"What have you got, Rodney?" As hard as he tried, he couldn't keep all of the anxiety out of his voice._

_"What I've got is that this outpost is huge. It's more than just a single station, there are mines and facilities all over this mountain range, which is as big as the Colorado Rockies by the way. There's even a warship hangar at the base of the mountain, probably right by the village and probably how they're getting into the complex."_

_"Any ships?!"_

_"Listen to the excitement. No ships."_

_"So, what, we fly back to the village? Go in through their entrance to find them?"_

_"Give me a second. The various facilities are connected with transporters, some of them can only be reached that way. We should be sure they've not been taken somewhere else."_

_John rolled his head in impatience. Another minute ticked by._

_"McKay!"_

_"Hang on – there! I've tapped into the power grid data for the complex, maybe we can narrow down where they might be by ruling out places that aren't turned on yet. This is odd…"_

_John blinked, "What's odd?"_

_"I'm getting system warnings from the power grid. It's screaming for attention actually. And…no wonder! These people have figured out how to turn on the generators but have only got part of the systems initialized. None of the safety or waste disposal systems are up at all. This thing has been running for years without filtration. No wonder we picked up the pollution from the jumper. According to this, the levels are at near disaster accumulations…"_

_"Disaster…" John held his tongue, knowing that __sometimes Rodney could get to the point on his own._

_"Yes. Planet-wide kaboom. If there is an ignition event, it could set the atmosphere on fire."_

_"So about Teyla and Ronon?"_

_"Right, right. Most of the power is going to the complex near the village and to this facility up here. One other mine is powered up about 30 miles from here for some reason, and there's a small research post getting power about 30 miles south of that."_

_"A mine's a good place to hold prisoners," John suggested._

_"Hey, you're right. Hang on a second, I've got an idea."_

_"McKay!"_

_"I didn't actually mean a literal second, you know! These things take a little time, emphasis on little, in my case, but you get the point…"_

_"MCKAY!"_

_John had been keeping a watchful eye on the door and with a heart pounding jolt, he saw the crack down the center widen a small fraction with a sudden lurch._

_They were coming through._

_John shoved Rodney into a crouch, hissing at him to keep working, then bolted to the door, standing to one side of the slim opening. Muttered voices drifted through the crack and the doors lurched open another inch. A weapon was shoved through and a couple of shots sparked against the far wall, then withdrew. Taking a deep breath, John gripped his weapon tightly and lunged to the center again, firing the second his muzzle saw hallway beyond._

_A deadly blast of bullets sprayed into the hallway and the sound of screaming and angry yelling filled the room when the report of his weapon ceased. He jerked to the side again and waited, listening closely to the sounds on the other side of the door. Whoever was messing with it had apparently become very wary of approaching the door and the murmurs sounded further away than before._

_John risked a glance at McKay, "Rodney, you got anything yet?"_

_"Almost. But you're not going to like it. I don't like it…"_

_John fired through the crack again, this time simply sticking his arm out to squeeze a few bursts into the hallway. "Got anything __helpful?" he panted._

_"They're in that mine."_

_"Great. Figure out how to get there then let's go."_

_McKay was quiet for a handful of heartbeats, presumably figuring out how to get there, then he said almost distractedly, "It's too late..."_

It's too late…_ John's heart froze in his chest and he turned to McKay, his eyes stricken and such furious grief plastered on his face that McKay's eyes widened and he hastily threw up his hands, "No! Well, I mean it's bad, but they're alive for now."_

_John looked quickly away for a moment, his heart still pounding, and tried to force down the panic that had almost consumed him. In that single instant, he'd thought Teyla and Ronon were dead – just like that. No warning, no goodbyes. He blinked and concentrated again on the noises in the hallway with effort. They still seemed to be staying away. "Spill it McKay or I shoot you next." He fired off some bullets into the hallway, instead, for the sheer, vengeful pleasure of it._

_"They've been dumped into a vacuum mine, a deep underground cavern where materials are mined by lasers under airless, vacuum conditions."_

_"They're alive?" John felt like he needed that reassurance again._

_"Yest, but not for long. The forcefields around the cavern are up and someone has started the air evacuation procedures. In 20 minutes, their air will be gone and they'll die from suffocation if the vacuum conditions don't get them first."_

_John struggled to stay focused, "20 minutes. OK, we've got time. Turn off the air vents from here."_

_"Can't access that facility's controls. We're not connected from here."_

_"Alright, then we go to the control room where we CAN access that facility."_

_Rodney poked a bit. "We have to go to the mine's control room. The closest transporter to us is 6 levels down and three sections over – they pretty much only have one per discreet facility – and I'm getting about 30 life signs in the area." Rodney looked up at John in genuine curiosity. "You think we can get there?"_

_John thought it through, taking the time to glance at his hand scanner – there were five signs just outside his door, the rest were scattered across the screen: 30 against 2 was crappy odds and if the levels and sections were anything like Atlantis levels and sections, then that was a pretty damn long way to fight their way through. If they got pinned down..._

_He shook his head with a sharp jerk, "Too far, not enough time." Precious seconds were ticking away and he rolled his head in frustration, trying to think. "The jumper. We'll get back to the jumper and fly it to the mine."_

_"We still have to disable the autopilot, or Ehman will just turn us around before we leave the mountain. The easiest way would be to shut it down locally; those systems are controlled from this facility. Then you'd have to fly out manually."_

_"Then there's no time to lose. You figure out how to shut off the autopilot while I take care of this." And with that, John promptly ignored Rodney to do what he had to do._

_Flipping up a pocket flap, John pulled out a flashbang, a grenade-like device that would temporarily stun an enemy with a bright flash and a loud bang giving it its oh so creative nickname. He took only a second to glance at his scanner again, confirming the count, then he tucked it away, pulled the pin on the flashbang and gave the door an almighty wrench with his other hand._

_The door lurched open another couple of inches, just enough for John to toss the stun grenade into the hallway beyond. He heard the metal casing clink once innocently against the floor, then he was squatting behind the door again with his fingers over his ears and his eyes tightly squeezed shut._

_He felt the concussion of the grenade's blast rattle the doors at his back, then he was yanking at the door again and squeezing his shoulders through, P-90 already aimed and firing at the blinded men who were stumbling around the hallway. With a kind of painful numbness at the morbid thought, John was pleased that he'd been able to use the single-shot setting: five targets, five bullets. He kicked away the various varieties of weapons out of the hands of the dead or dying men, for now shutting out the image of death and seeing only targets neutralized._

_Poking his head back in the lab, he shouted to McKay, "Let's go, the noise'll bring more of them soon." He checked his scanner briefly and was grateful to see no dots between them and the stairs to the jumper bay, at least at the moment. Rodney didn't answer and stood, staring at the viewscreen. Gasping with exhilaration and impatience, John shot a look at it, too, then quickly snapped his jaw shut around the annoyed remark he'd been about to make._

_In the corner of a screen full of many security-camera-type images, a tiny Ronon stood glaring into the eye of the lens that watched down the tunnel towards the force shield that was preventing Ronon from entering it. In a sudden fit of fury, Ronon slammed his fists into the shield that shimmered and sparkled into a sheet of opaque energy, then disappeared again into invisible solidity._

_The Ronon on the screen put his hands to his head and snarled, then stepped back to drop heavily onto one knee beside a silently prone Teyla, just barely recognizable in the grainy image. Ronon picked up her limp hand and held it between his, looking suddenly vulnerable and perhaps just a little afraid._

_"I, uh, tapped into the security monitors…" Rodney's voice trailed off as he continued to stare in worried horror._

_John glanced at his watch. 17 minutes._

_"McKay. You know how to kill the autopilot?" His voice was thick with fury, and fear, and determination and grief and the coldness of one fighting off desperation._

_"Yeah. Yeah, the central hub for this facility is on this level, two sections to the east. We need to go there. There's another way into the jumper bay from there, so we shouldn't lose much time…" Rodney's voice remained soft and distracted._

_John took one last look at the image on the screen. "Then let's go."_

_--------------------- _


	10. John's choice

John stared straight ahead, but not looking at anything in particular. He was finding it harder than he'd expected to re-live that day, and he fought with every sentence to force down the self-doubt that had crept into his memory in the days since. He'd done what he'd had to do, then and later.

"We made our way to the central hub and McKay was able to disable the automatic systems that Lear had used to hijack the autopilot. McKay was pretty certain that Lear's men had controlled the jumper from that console the first time, too. So we destroyed the console and fought our way into the jumper."

It sounded so simplistic: we did this, then we did that. But John would never be able to find the words to describe the fear, the terror of the situation, of knowing that failure meant the deaths of two members of his team simply because he couldn't get there in time. He could never explain to Murgia the feeling of hopelessness that had swallowed him up with every agonizing second that passed. 5 minutes to take out the autopilot. 5 minutes to fight their way to the jumper… So much accomplished in so little time and yet – still – not fast enough.

Murgia shifted and John felt a stab of annoyance when he realized that the Colonel was going to speak. John just wanted to get through it. He just wanted it to be done.

"What was the casualty count within the mountain?"

John recognized the question as a standard, mission-debriefing query. Optimistically he hoped that this meant that Murgia was returning his focus to the issue of military necessity. "8 dead. 3 wounded, McKay got 2 with the stunner." John replied authoritatively and he just caught Elizabeth's sudden look in his direction out of the corner of his eye. She seemed surprised by his quick answer. He always knew the answer to that question. But Elizabeth never asked it. It was one reason he liked working for her so much…

"And all within the accepted rules of engagement," Major Mackey added with hasty commentary.

Murgia just nodded without taking his gaze off John who finally met the man's look. "You were nearly out of time at this point in your rescue plan, were you not?" Murgia asked.

John clenched his teeth, then forced an answer out, "We had 7 minutes left, by McKay's initial estimates, to navigate the tunnel back to the surface and then fly the 30 miles to the mine where Teyla and Ronon were being held."

John looked at Teyla and Ronon across the room for the first time since he'd begun his testimony, his eyes pleading for understanding. "And, No. It wasn't enough time."

-----------------------

_John eased the jumper into the tunnel then nudged it forward leaving chaos and three more dead soldiers behind. McKay's fingers were flying over the co-pilot's controls and only a moment after the darkness seemed to swallow them up, the lights in the tunnel came on in blaring brightness. John shot a nervous look at the HUD's display, but no blinking autopilot light appeared. Not even taking the time to feel relieved, he pushed the ship to go faster and brought the walls flying past to a frightening blur._

_McKay looked out the window for a second, then gulped and quickly returned to the console and the safe portion of the screen that was covered with data. "I've got the jumper linked into the outpost, now. We're wasting a bit of power by turning all the lights in the tunnel on at once, but we'll make Lear pay the utility bill…"_

_"Thanks," was all John had the ability to reply. Every ounce of his concentration was on keeping the jumper in the middle of the tunnel. If he so much as scraped a wall at this speed, the ship would tumble and come out the other end in little, mangled pieces._

_"I've an idea about how to buy us some more time. If we can just kill the power to the mine that Ronon and Teyla are trapped in, it would stop the venting and shut down the force field. They'd survive until we can get there. Now, the power for the whole complex comes from a geo-chemical generator on the other side of the mountain range and is distributed through a central power grid…"_

_The jumper wobbled a bit as a small ray of hope flooded John's chest. "So we blow up the generator!" he interrupted with unabashed glee._

_"No! No, no, no, no, no! REALLY, No. This whole mountain range is a chemical disaster area. Planet-wide kaboom! Remember? If you blow up the generator, or even so much as detonate a drone on the surface, you'll have your ignition event and most likely set off a firestorm in the atmosphere."_

_"That would be bad?"_

_"Um, very bad. Kill everything on the surface for thousands of miles and destroy the entire planet's ecosystem for thousands of years, bad."_

_"Then, how…?"_

_Rodney sighed with the impatience of one who's about to say something incredibly brilliant. "When we were shutting down the autopilot, I opened up a channel for the jumper to link in. This research facility doesn't hook directly into the central power grid's command systems, but it does hook into the main network that all systems share to some extent. I might be able to write a virus program that would copy itself onto the network and work its way into the central grid eventually. At that point, I'll just have it start shutting things down, cutting power to everything it can see and eventually the mines."_

_"Will it work?"_

_"It won't be elegant, and we'll still have to go get them out, but, sure. It'll work."_

_"Do it!" John said, more for his own satisfaction than to authorize the idea. He knew McKay was already working. One minute passed, then 90 seconds. John estimated that at this speed it should take another 30 seconds to make it back to the surface, and if McKay's plan worked, then they'd have all the time they needed to fly the 30 miles to the mine. The knot of terror was just beginning to unwind ever so slightly at the thought: McKay's plans usually worked!_

_The tunnel lights went out._

_John slammed on the figurative brakes and brought the jumper to a screeching halt, narrowly avoiding the walls of the gentle curve he'd been navigating. John gasped with the surge of adrenaline, "Now what!" He snarled. This was seriously screwing with his schedule, and he threw the jumper back into forward motion, realizing that he was only capable of less than half the speed with only the jumper's headlights to show the way._

_McKay was poking furiously at the console when the answer appeared on the HUD in the form of Ehman Lear's furious image. "You have defied me and killed my men!" he yelled, with no preamble._

_"Yeah, well, cunning warrior and all that. Look, Ehman, you're not going to get the jumper. You're not going to get us. If you kill Teyla and Ronon all you're going to get is your ass kicked and a double handful of regret handed to you on a platter." John spoke the words lightly, but the seething fury underneath them saturated every syllable._

_"My only regret is that your death will not be as slow and uncomfortable as that of your friends." With that the screen went blank and John just shook his head in angry disbelief._

_"That guy has a real attitude," John muttered trying to push the jumper just a little faster._

_"I'll be glad to leave," McKay agreed, still programming furiously at his tablet._

_The jumper started moving backwards._

_With complete shock, John watched the walls creeping by before him slow down, then reverse direction and then gradually pick up speed. Automatically John thought about a rear-view mirror, and the HUD popped up a window with a display of the also dark tunnel behind them, the walls sliding towards the image looking odd against the walls sliding away from the window itself._

_"What the hell!" he exclaimed, and twitched the controls. The jumper reacted with a small lurch across the narrow width of the tunnel, nearly colliding with the skimming sheet of rock. "Dammit, McKay, something is controlling the thrusters but not the steering." He had to focus for a long moment on steering the jumper around the same gentle curve they'd just passed, but this time in reverse and faster – with no lights._

_McKay was hitting buttons and reading his side of the HUD furiously. "He's found a way to get to the autopilot controls, bypassing that main console we destroyed!"_

_"We're going faster, I can't – I won't be able to keep up," John was concentrating so hard on the tiny window that was his only view into their path that the rest of the screen faded from his vision. Sweat trickled down his brow, and he gulped as the jumper just barely scraped the inside wall of a slight turn. The jumper shuddered and wobbled wildly, before it returned to its sickeningly fast flight._

_"SHUT IT DOWN!" John bellowed, his voice panicky. The jumper drifted towards the wall again._

_"I've almost got it," Rodney bellowed back, sounding equally panicked. "I'm trying to block the signal without killing the connection altogether."_

_A shrieking grinding sound scraped the length of the ship and John fought the controls to keep the jumper from tumbling, "Kill it, McKay, or we're dead."_

_"But!"_

_"Do it," John growled between gritted teeth, his knuckles white on the controls._

_McKay's fingers flew over the console and he finally jabbed at a button on John's side of the cockpit with a frantic slap. The jumper slowed, then drifted to an obedient hover. John remained frozen over the console. He realized he was shaking when he ran his hand through his sweat-soaked hair and he quickly returned it to the controls, lest Rodney see. With great effort, he thought the jumper forward and they began moving towards the exit once more._

_McKay was unusually subdued as he also slumped in his seat, so John threw him a nod and said, "Good work, McKay."_

_"Sure, sure," Rodney answered hesitantly. "I didn't think Lear could reroute the program that quickly. He's pretty clever. Think he was trying to bring the jumper back to the bay?"_

_"No. He was trying to kill us," John replied with certainty._

_"Hmm. He does seem like an 'If I can't have it, no one can,' kind of guy." There was an odd quality to Rodney's voice that John couldn't quite pin down._

_A brief moment of silence passed and John urged the jumper onwards feeling the sight of clear skies and open spaces couldn't come soon enough. They still had work to do. "Fire up that virus, Rodney. We'll head to the mine the second we get out of here." Then they could go home, then they could let Elizabeth figure out the best way to handle Lear, if they decided they even wanted to._

_"I can't." Rodney's voice was soft again, filled with strangled defeat._

_"…what?"_

_"Lear was using the uplink we'd opened to control the jumper. I had to break the connection to break his control of the ship. I lost access to the outpost, there's no way to send the virus."_

_John frantically looked at his watch. __3 minutes.__ He suddenly felt like he had in that moment in the outpost's small lab. Grief was knocking at his heart and his eyes stung with a moment of hopelessness. "McKay…"_

_"I know. There's not enough time to get to the mine. I'm…I'm sorry."_

_"No. No, we'll figure something else out." John was desperate, and he shoved the grief away with furious denial. "We'll…we'll take out the generator from here. I can hit it if I get enough altitude."_

_"If you fire a drone the atmosphere will ignite. Everything on the surface for a huge radius will be wiped out."_

_"And the outpost? Will Teyla and Ronon be affected?"_

_"The whole complex is mostly underground and so the Ancients built their own environmental controls. Anyone in the outpost would be OK for a while, until the loss of power affected the EC."_

_"Then, we do it."_

_"There are 2000 people in that village! Ehman is a first-class asshole, but those people don't deserve to die because of him."_

_"Dammit, McKay!" John yelled furiously, angry at Rodney for reminding him of what he already knew. The village would be destroyed, along with the generator, and, if McKay wasn't exaggerating, a large chunk of the planet. Teyla and Ronon would die if he did nothing._

_An eternity of tense silence passed and finally - finally! - the jumper shot out of the side of the mountain into velvet night skies. John could just see a glimpse of the twinkling hearthfires in the village below as he turned the jumper's nose up into a steep, fast, climb. The ground fell away from them with frightening speed._

_John looked at his watch. 45 seconds._

_McKay was watching him with something like suspicion tinged with fear. John ignored him and leveled the jumper slightly while still climbing. Three dark shapes zipped away from them towards the twinkles far below._

_"What did you do?!" cried Rodney._

_"I fired disarmed drones at the village. Warning fire." Maybe they'll run for the outpost and some of them will be sheltered, he thought to himself…_

_McKay's expression had turned to surprise, but he kept his mouth shut and sat staring for a moment longer. John leveled out the jumper and pointed its nose West, towards the mine and the generator beyond._

_"Sheppard, you can't do it!"_

_John's hands clenched on the jumper controls and the head's up display came to life with the drone targeting program._

_"__Can't McKay?" his voice was a dangerous growl. "Teyla and Ronon…"_

_"Knew the risks when they came through that 'gate with us this morning. We all did…do?."_

_John jerked his head, "So I'm just supposed to sit here and let that place suffocate the life out of them?" The growl was bordering on an anguished plea._

_"No! I… I don't know!" John could hear the anguish in McKay's voice too, and the deep emotion spilling out of the carefully narcissistic scientist stayed John's hand more than any furious tirade._

_"What do I do, McKay?" They were supposed to figure it out. They were supposed to have a plan that would save the day. That would save __everyone._

_"I got nothing." Rodney tilted his head, then looked away in resignation. "If you fire a drone…"_

_"I KNOW," John bellowed, feeling like he couldn't bear to hear the argument even one more time. "If I don't, Teyla and Ronon die."_

_"You can't do it." Rodney's voice was very small._

_John's hands flexed against the controls again, the mental command to fire so dangerously close to realization that the display flickered, then magnified closer to the target in a half-hearted attempt to interpret the pilot's conflicting signals._

I'd do anything, for any one of you. If it meant laying my life down like Ronon was going to do, I'd do it.

_John closed his eyes briefly – a last moment before the decision was made. The only decision he __could make. When he opened them again, they were determined and just a little bit sad. A drone leaped away from the jumper, disappearing quickly from their view against the vast bulk of the planet they were beginning to descend towards._

_A small flash marked the drone's impact, then the point around the flash seemed to glow, spreading quickly outward in an expanding ring of red-black devastation. The circle of lava-like molten fire raced over the planet's surface, consuming fully a quarter of the planet's landmass with frightening speed before finally turning black and cooling at the edges. The circle ceased to spread, lying like a glowing boil on the devastated land._

_"I can't believe you did it…" whispered Rodney._

_-----------_


	11. The Hard Place

The room was utterly silent, but the dead air felt more melancholy than tense. John cleared his throat with a forced cough, then rubbed his eyes with a shaking hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. Mackey sat next to him in stiff worry, his hand covering his mouth as if he had to physically restrain himself to keep quiet. When John went on, he folded his hands and addressed the tabletop.

"We, uh, had to convert the cloak to a shield to descend to the surface, then we entered the jumper bay for the mining complex. McKay had to rig power from the jumper to get the transporters to work – the only access to the vacuum mines were by transporter – then we recovered Teyla and Ronon and returned to Atlantis. You heard the rest from Elizabeth."

John finished and took a deep breath. Fixing a look of resolute determination on his face, he raised his head and looked calmly at Murgia.

Murgia took a few notes with his pen, then sat tapping his papers for a while, as if letting the story sink in. Then he leaned back in his chair, still studying John and put the tip of the pen in his mouth. John wasn't sure what Murgia was looking for, but the Colonel who had the power to determine John's fate wouldn't see regret. Remorse, yes; Deep, deep sorrow and soul consuming guilt, yes; but not regret.

"Colonel Sheppard, you fired warning shots into the village?"

"Yes, sir. Disarmed drones. They would have impacted just outside the camp and made a lot of noise, but they didn't detonate."

Murgia tapped a little bit more. "Did you return directly to Atlantis after retrieving Miss Emmagan and Dex?"

John wagged his head little, then answered, "We did a flyby of the village and Ehman's outpost. McKay thought that since the firestorm spread in the upper atmosphere first and worked its way down to the surface, some of the villagers might have had time to make it into the outpost, even after the ignition event."

"And?"

"The village was destroyed, and the warship hangar – where Ehman's people worked and accessed the base – was deserted. We didn't enter the outpost ourselves. Lorne's team took a jumper through the tunnel into the research facility during the recon search and rescue. Backup power was available, there, and they took a look at the internal sensors, but the place was empty."

"Empty?"

"Or everyone was dead. Environmental controls were still functioning, but barely. Lorne had to get in and out, he didn't stay for a room to room sweep."

Murgia nodded and folded his hands over the papers and spread his elbows across the desk. He held John's eyes for a long calculating moment. John's breath hitched, but he again returned the gaze steadily. Major Mackey was looking back and forth between them nervously, sitting on the edge of his seat, and John knew the lawyer was afraid that either Murgia would ask something inappropriate at that moment, or that John would say something – else – he shouldn't.

Murgia suddenly narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "Colonel Sheppard," he asked with suspicious curiosity, "Do you know who anonymously sent the mission report and allegations of excessive use of force against you to the SGC and Military Justice Dept.?"

"Yes, sir," said John easily, raising an eyebrow as if daring the Colonel to continue. Elizabeth turned fully around in her seat to stare in undisguised surprise at his admission. John carefully avoided looking at her directly although he could feel her glare burning a hole into his ear.

"Who sent the documents, Colonel," Murgia's voice was stern, but there was a tilt to his head that suggested he had an idea of the answer.

"I did, sir," said John.

The statement caused a mild sensation in the room, and yet everyone seemed to have their own personal reaction to the revelation. Elizabeth slumped against the seat of her chair and stared as if she couldn't decide whether to be proud or furious. The row of judges and Mackey were nodding in approval, Ronon looked pissed, and Teyla's face was an unreadable mixture of grief and hope. John's eyes swept around the room, taking it in, then returned his gaze to Murgia.

"I see," Murgia seemed to find the answer satisfactory. He tapped his papers once again into a tidy stack. "Very well, then. I will interview Dr. McKay when he becomes available, but assuming his recollections confirm Colonel Sheppard's testimony, I consider the question of intentional homicide for personal gain to be resolved. No further inquiries into that matter need to be made."

"Thank you, sir," John choked out, his voice barely a hoarse whisper. It was a small victory, but one that was important to John. He would probably spend the rest of his life as a screwup convicted war criminal, but he needed his record to show he'd done it out of love, not greed. Selfish, fear driven love perhaps, but love nonetheless.

"You're welcome. Arrangements will be made for formal excessive use of force charges to be brought against you. You may stay on Atlantis under house arrest, if you wish, until a trial date is set."

"Yes, sir," was all John could say. His hands were shaking even as he clenched them tightly together on the table and he felt his shoulders sagging, tugging him forward with the desire to bury his head in his arms and shut out the whole room, the whole world for just a moment. He'd known this would be the inevitable outcome. Hell, he'd started the process himself. But at that moment, it hit him with unexpected terror. He'd be convicted and never see Atlantis again. John suddenly realized that he would choose to leave immediately, he couldn't live here a moment longer with the pain of waiting for his time here to end.

"Don't worry, Colonel. We'll mount an effective defense," Mackey was saying with a slap on the shoulder and that soothing lawyer voice that John didn't hate quite so much this time. "You'll get a fair trial, and a fair sentencing."

John gulped and nodded, his head low over his hands. He looked at no one, although he could tell from the murmurs across the room that the judges were conversing as a group among themselves, and his friends along the table beside him were shifting and rustling, preparing to leave soon. The was a commotion brewing behind his back that faced the row of doors into the conference room, but he assumed that the JAG lawyers were up to something lawyerish and he ignored the noise, rubbing his eyes with his palms and desperately waiting for the moment when he could just go back to his room and systematically destroy everything within reach…

"What do you mean it's over?! It's not over! Not until I get in there it won't be, now move aside Airboy. And let Major Lorne in, too, when he gets here."

The arrogantly bossy voice jolted John off his elbows to whirl around in his seat. McKay stood just at the threshold of the conference room, looking keenly around for familiar faces and then shouldered past the guards that had been put in place to prevent interruptions. Rodney's eyes skimmed past John with barely a hesitation, then he set his sights on Murgia and advanced down the tables to stand behind one of the empty chairs at John's table.

Fully aware that the whole room was looking at him with stunned curiosity, McKay bounced on his toes, thoroughly enjoying the attention.

"Where the HELL have you been!" John felt the words escape his throat in a furious growl, all the tension and anxiety and fear suddenly igniting into hot anger at McKay. The man had abandoned him, left him at the hearing alone – his only witness – for the entire time and NOW had the gall to waltz in and demand his five minutes of fame?

"Off saving your stripes, Sheppard. _Again_, I might add, and don't tell me you're not keeping track." McKay answered with a smile, not at all recognizing the anguish in John's voice.

John blinked. _What?_

But McKay turned back to Murgia and puffed out his chest. "Colonel Lawyer, sir. I'm ready to offer my testimony, now."

Murgia was not at all pleased with the theatrics any more than John, and he glared at McKay over the edge of his glasses. "Dr. McKay, I assume. The hearing has heard all the testimony it requires for now. Colonel Sheppard himself gave testimony of what happened in the time you were together, and I will arrange an interview with you immediately after we adjourn to confirm his account. At this time…"

"Sheppard testified?!" McKay blurted out, momentarily distracted from his swagger. He turned on John and cocked his head to one side, "You didn't do anything stupid like confess did you?"

John opened his mouth to reply angrily, but Murgia, annoyed at being interrupted, beat him to it, "Colonel Sheppard gave an honest account of his actions and his position is better because of it…"

McKay rolled his eyes at John, "You did! You confessed! I can't believe you just sat there and bled your heart out to this guy…"

"You weren't here!" John snapped, raising his voice, "They were accusing me of freakin' genocide, McKay!"

"I told you sending that document to the SGC was a bad idea," McKay shook his head ruefully, seeming not to have heard anything John had said.

This time it was Elizabeth's turn to blurt out an interruption, "You knew too? You knew John sent the mission report to Military Justice?"

McKay shrugged, "He said he needed a witness. I tried to talk him out of it. I told him to just wait and see if anybody even noticed…"

"McKay!" John yelled, suddenly a little bit grateful that McKay hadn't been around after all.

"Please!" Murgia bellowed, and all heads turned again to the very ruffled Colonel. "Dr. McKay, I assure you that your testimony will be required at the trial. In the meantime, unless you have something new to add…"

"Oh. I do," McKay suddenly looked a bit deflated, as if he'd just realized that the conversation hadn't gone quite according to his imagined plan. "I do have new information."

Murgia narrowed his eyes suspiciously and John knew exactly what Murgia was thinking – he was trying to figure out if McKay really had something or if he was just angling for more attention. "What sort of new information are we talking about, Doctor?"

The doors behind John hissed open a second time and McKay waved smugly at the figures entering the already crowded room. "That sort," he said.

John whirled around to face the doors. Major Lorne and Captain Anderson, armed and dressed in full offworld gear, stepped over the threshold, dragging by the elbows a tall handsome man dressed in silk pants and a fine linen tunic glittering with beads.

It was Ehman Lear.


	12. McKay

The gasps around the table were audible. John heard a chair scrape loudly as it was shoved backwards and he turned just in time to see Ronon leap out of his chair to plant his hands on the table, looking like his next move would be to leap _over_ the table at Lear. Teyla quickly stood up, too, and put both her hands around one of Ronon's arms, restraining with her touch his obvious wish for revenge. Her glare, however, was no less furious. For his part, Lear glared right back and kept his mouth tightly shut, his lips pressed into a tight thin line of anger.

Completely overwhelmed, John sagged limply into his seat, feeling like any more surprises or emotional swings would simply drive him under the table into a whimpering huddle.

Murgia tapped his pen furiously as Lorne and Anderson bullied Lear into the room and positioned him behind the last empty chair, next to McKay. "And this would be?"

"This is Ehman Lear. Colonel Murgia, you can't convict Sheppard of genocide or war crimes – or whatever he confessed to like an idiot – because Lear's people didn't die. They escaped offworld."

There was another round of excited murmuring around the room, but John dropped his elbows to the table and covered his face with his hands. His next breath was a shuddering gasp and he struggled against the sting in his eyes and the tightness of his chest as the weight of 2000 souls suddenly, miraculously, lifted from his neck.

_They didn't die. They escaped offworld_.

As far as John was concerned, the fact that they lived was a humanitarian triumph and a legal technicality: he would probably still stand trial for the decision he'd made, he would probably serve time and be dishonorably discharged. He deserved as much. But at that moment, he thought he just might be able to look himself in the mirror, someday, and call himself the luckiest bastard in two universes.

John listened from behind his hands for a while as the JAG Colonel yet again called the hearing back to order. The resigned confusion in Murgia's voice was clear. "Dr. McKay, I guess we need to hear your testimony after all."

"Excellent! I thought you'd never ask." John heard a chair being pulled out and he assumed that McKay had decided to sit down. From the other scrapings across the rooms, he concluded that Teyla and Ronon were sitting as well.

McKay began, "Several things bothered me about Lear's occupation of the outpost. Ehman told us that his people had conquered the previous settlers, but the outpost was on the other side of the continent from the Stargate. The idea that two different communities had crossed the continent and tussled over the same piece of property just seemed…incredible.

"Teyla also told me after we got back that the village by the foot of the mountains was a labor village only. No elders, no children, just men and young women strong enough to work in the mine or skilled at some craft. Again, this made no sense if the community wished to sustain itself, and made no sense for a people that had crossed a continent. Babies happen, people!

"We first speculated that maybe a separate family village was near one of the other facilities on the mountain range, for some reason, or perhaps out on the plain somewhere, so I double checked our sensor scans from the trip in. Nothing. The jumper recorded no other settlements or clusters of lifesigns in the area.

"Other little things seemed out of place, too. The cloth and silk that Ronon described the people wearing, for example: there were no local materials to make those fabrics from. At our dinner conversation, Ehman mentioned the Wraith awakening: if his people had been in the outpost for two years as he claimed, and had been walking the continent before that, there was no way he could have known about the Wraith which happened only 3 years ago!"

John raised his head, curiosity getting the better of him. McKay sat happily chatting away and waving his hands as he enthusiastically told his story.

"So. Once we ruled out that there were no other villages between the Stargate and the Outpost, it suddenly hit me: The Stargate! There was a small village near the Stargate living in another small cluster of Ancient buildings. Our team flew over them completely the day of the mission, and so I had forgotten all about it. I rechecked the sensor logs for our _return_ flight and confirmed that the village was already abandoned before we had made it back. The firestorm never reached as far as the Stargate and I ran some simulations: those people shouldn't have felt or seen anything, at least not yet. So why did they run?"

John suddenly raised an eyebrow and shot a triumphant glare at Murgia. _Return to the planet to intimidate the settlers, my ass! _He thought. But Murgia was ignoring John at the moment.

"Why did they run, Doctor?" Murgia asked mechanically.

"I'm getting to that. At this point, I had to go back to E4E-C12. Three days ago I told Elizabeth I was going to the Alpha site to set up a new sensor array. I went to C12 from there, instead, and checked out the Ancient buildings near the 'gate…"

"You went to a known hostile planet alone, Dr. McKay!" This came from Colonel Caldwell who was looking between Elizabeth and Rodney with alarm. John risked a glance at Elizabeth and, as expected, saw her glaring daggers at McKay.

"No, no. Lorne and, and, and – what's his name? – Walker went with me. Anyway. Guess what we found less than a mile from the Stargate?" McKay looked around then beamed at Murgia who was unimpressed. Murgia just stared and McKay slumped in annoyance.

"Come on! Surely you can figure it out…"

"A transporter!" John shouted suddenly.

Rodney snapped his fingers and pointed at John. "Right in One! A transporter, and a big one, too. The Ancients probably transferred personnel and maybe equipment back and forth to the Outpost since the mines had to be so far from the 'gate."

"Why not just move the 'gate?" Asked Ronon.

McKay opened his mouth, then snapped it shut, turning a rosy pink around the cheeks. "Well, I actually have no idea. That's a really good question…"

But John was getting impatient to hear the rest and blurted out, "So, Ehman transported his people to the Stargate, warned the people living there, then boogied off the planet."

"Yes. In fact, they'd been doing that all along. His people didn't cross the continent on foot, they transported across, just like the settlers before them. The people in the village near the 'gate were most likely soldiers, standing guard to prevent other settlers from capturing the transporter. It's no wonder they were so utterly shocked to see us fly in on top of them. The idea that someone could make it to the outpost without going through the transporter was unheard of."

"But how did they get away from the firestorm at the mountains? Colonel Sheppard reported that the village was destroyed." Murgia was finally sounding interested, if in spite of himself.

"Sheppard's warning fire," McKay answered. "I just figured all this out since I found Ehman's little retreat a couple hours ago, so bear with me…" Lorne coughed pointedly from his spot behind the chair next to Ehman and McKay rolled his eyes. "OK, since _we_ found Ehman's hideout.

"Someone told me that the drone impacts frightened a lot of folks and many were already on the move to the outpost when the firestorm swept over the mountain. The village was sheltered for perhaps another 5 minutes by the cliff and the top-down ignition. It was enough time for Ehman to hustle the rest into the ship hangar. By the time we got there, almost an hour later, they were long gone."

McKay flicked a nervous look at Ehman, then shrugged in grudging respect at Murgia. "Ehman may be a murdering pirate, but he's apparently a pretty good leader. He got his people out in time." Ehman twitched at the conversation concerning him, but apparently had decided to keep stoically silent.

Every eye in the room was locked on Murgia as McKay finished his remarkable story. From the hopeful expression of Elizabeth, and the sneer of triumph on Ronon's face, John could tell they were hoping the Colonel would announce that all charges had been dropped on the spot and that they could all go back to their lives the way they had been before. John knew better: he'd damaged his command authority too badly for anyone to let him near so much as a reserve unit on Earth, let alone let him stay on Atlantis. But he appreciated that Elizabeth, at least, seemed to be less angry at him.

Murgia was furiously taking notes and barely looked up when he asked, "Doctor McKay, how did you find Ehman's people, and why did you wait until two hours ago to do so?" There was a hint of annoyance in the tone and John was sure the Colonel didn't appreciate being so far out of the loop. John didn't appreciate it much, himself.

"We only _found_ them two hours ago! We've been looking for three solid days! After we realized that there was a chance the people got offworld through the 'gate, I pulled the list of addresses that had been dialed last from C12. There were dozens of addresses, so Lorne has been sending volunteer teams through for three straight days, looking for Lear."

John's eyes were suddenly stinging again. His men, his people had worked that hard, on the basis of a mere hunch, for him? Lorne was beaming and bouncing on his toes as John caught his eye. John returned the smile with a slight grin of his own and a small nod of deep gratitude.

McKay was apparently still offended that Murgia had accused him of waiting 'til the last minute. "I only got the call that they'd found Lear a few minutes before the hearing began. I joined them, talked to some of the villagers, and, uh, _convinced_ Ehman to make an appearance." McKay looked sheepishly at Lorne who still had Lear by the elbow and everyone in the room knew exactly what he'd meant by "convinced"…

John suddenly remembered the incoming wormhole just as he'd reached the conference room and shook his head. He was going to slap McKay upside the head for not telling him or Elizabeth what he was up to, and for going offworld at that critical moment. But he couldn't fault his friend for the results. Even if the discovery didn't save his ass, it sure had saved his soul.

"Very well, Doctor. We certainly thank you and Major Lorne for your persistence in bringing this information to us. At this point, I think we'll conclude the hearing. I and my team will interview all the witnesses again, and we will visit Ehman's refugee settlement to confirm you testimony so that all the evidence may be considered in prosecuting Colonel Sheppard's case at trial."

From the surprised looks on the faces in the room, John understood that everyone, even Landry and Caldwell had not expected Murgia to continue with the trial. But John just nodded his head. He understood. Murgia was right.

Major Mackey thumped his thumbs on the table for a second, then stood up abruptly. "Colonel Murgia. As Colonel Sheppard's legal council, I must object and request that war crimes charges be immediately dropped and the incident be left to the Colonel's chain of command for review and consequence."

It was Murgia's turn to look surprised. "Major, while I am as pleased as everyone in this room that 2000 people did not lose their lives as we believed they had, the fact remains that Colonel Sheppard's actions could and should have resulted in such a disaster."

"Sir, I agree that the command decisions of Colonel Sheppard need to be reviewed and scrutinized by his superiors, but considering the incredibly unique situation Sheppard's team was forced to cope with, and considering that they were responding to acts of deadly force against them within an incredibly difficult timeline, AND considering that the villagers did not, in fact, lose their lives, there are enough mitigating circumstances to throw the charges of excessive force into doubt. It is unlikely you would win the case."

John almost chuckled at Mackey's pluck in making that last statement. The man was certainly sure of himself, however much John disagreed.

Murgia scowled, "There is still the destruction of the planet itself and the long-term effects of the firestorm on the natural ecosystems."

Major Mackey quickly countered with, "We have already established that the environmental conditions were a hazard long before Sheppard's team reached the outpost, and that the planet would have most likely suffered the same fate had Ehman's people been left alone."

"I destroyed a solar system once!" McKay blurted out, "You didn't throw me in the brig for that."

"The solar system was uninhabited."

"So was the outpost!" McKay scoffed, then he looked a bit contrite as Ehman shifted angrily, "Well, it was successfully evacuated, at least," McKay amended.

"And there is the fact that the property and homes of the settlers at the outpost were destroyed, leaving them as refugees…"

"Puh-lease!" McKay waved his arms in sheer annoyance. "You should see this place Ehman's got set up on S1T-423! The village at the outpost was a mere campground by comparison. Ehman's men and crafters worked at the mine then went home to the wife and kiddies on the weekends. The bulk of their population is on 423 and it's a paradise. They've been pulling jewels and precious metals out of C12 for two years. They're living like princes."

Murgia looked genuinely startled and shot a look at Lorne who just grinned and nodded in confirmation. The JAG Colonel suddenly slouched back in his chair and threw the pen across the table where it skittered to a stop against the stack of papers that were untidily strewn about in front of him. John frowned and looked at Mackey to find the man grinning with wry triumph.

"Colonel Sheppard," Murgia asked wearily, "Do you believe that charges against you should be dropped and the incident left to your superiors for review?"

John suddenly felt like he was under a very big spotlight, "No, sir!" he blurted out without thinking. He'd made the choice knowing the outcome. He deserved the punishment the law demanded.

McKay looked at him in complete and utter disbelief. Even Lorne got caught in a double-take at the surprising answer and stared at John with a slight frown. Murgia, however, nodded in satisfaction. "Very well, Colonel. All charges are temporarily dismissed until or unless any new or disturbing information surfaces. I am not closing the case, yet, but will do so after completing my interviews."

John's eyes widened and he looked hard at Murgia as if expecting him to laugh and shout, _gotcha._ He felt Mackey thumping him on the back and heard the room explode into happy murmuring and noisy movement. Dazed, he glanced up at the still standing Major Mackey. The JAG lawyer returned his look with happy satisfaction and no little sympathy.

"I don't understand," John whispered.

"Your record speaks for you," Mackey replied just as softly, "as do your actions. You're an honest man, Colonel. Whatever else you may be, Murgia knows that at least. So he trusts you to your superiors. Besides," a hint of an arrogant twinkle glittered in the lawyer's eye, "Murgia knew he couldn't win your case. There's too much confusion around the incident, too little understanding of how the law applies out here."

"So I got off on a technicality!" John was suddenly angry. That wasn't how he liked to win.

"Yes. You did." Mackey answered solemnly. "But I promise you, Colonel. If Murgia had any doubt about your character, if he had the least suspicion that you were not being honest with him, or that you weren't genuinely remorseful and capable of correction, he would have sunk his teeth into you like a pit bull and dragged you through years of court battles, just to keep you away from the Stargate."

John narrowed his eyes, then nodded. Mackey slapped him again, then was called away by his peers and Murgia to finalize the paperwork.

Over the next twenty minutes the room slowly emptied and John simply watched the motion around him in a stupefied daze. Ronon attacked him with a violent bear hug before ruffling his already spiky hair and sauntering away, looking smug and vindicated. Ehman was escorted back to the Stargate, but not before Anderson and Lorne saluted John with crisp sincerity. John returned the salute with a shaking hand.

The room was nearly empty when Major Mackey returned to John who still stood next to the same chair he'd been at for the last three hours. Mackey extended his hand with a warm smile and John took it firmly, putting every ounce of gratitude he could muster into the grip.

"Good luck, Colonel," Mackey said.

"You'd better call me John. Thank you, Jack."

"You're welcome. I'd say 'It's been fun,' but I'm sure you wouldn't agree, so I'll just say, 'I'll be in touch.'"

"I'd like that. Do you do parking tickets? I think my car's been double parked in Colorado Springs for three years," John replied with a smile and an attempt at humor.

Mackey shrugged playfully, "I prefer hard-luck, no-win cases, but you can give me a call when you return Stateside."

"I will, thanks again."

"No. Thank _you_, John. For Lyle."

Mackey walked out briskly and John was finally alone by the chair. He tugged at his tie and wrestled with his top buttons, loosening the starched shirt collar into comfortable sloppiness. His glittering jacket was already unbuttoned and hung open loosely around his hips and the air chilled the sweat-soaked fabric underneath his arms and on his back.

"Colonel?"

John spun at the voice and automatically snapped to attention when he realized he was face to face with General Landry.

"Yessir?"

The General had spoken very little during the hearing, and John eyed his direct superior warily. Even after spending several months on Earth under Landry's direct command, John still didn't really feel close to the man. Especially after the whole stealing a jumper thing, John got the impression that Landry didn't like him very much.

"You got lucky, son," Landry began without preamble and John sucked in a fast breath.

"Yessir."

"Colonel Murgia advises me to place a formal reprimand in your record and dock your pay."

"At least, sir."

Landry perched his hip on the edge of the table and studied John curiously. "You really think you should be sent up the river, Colonel? You're that eager to take the blame?"

John thought for a moment then answered, "Mackey would kill me for saying this, sir, but I knew what I was doing when I fired that drone. I knew the choice I was making. I just couldn't let my team die. When it came down to it, I couldn't let them die." _They're my friends, my family_, he thought, unable to meet Landry's eyes.

Landry shook his head, "That's not the problem, though. Is it, Sheppard?"

John whipped his head up, surprised that Landry understood so easily. "No, sir. The problem is… Sir, I think I would do it again." He swallowed hard, knowing that he was putting his entire career at risk with the admission. "I think if I had to choose again, if I needed to save my people, I would do it."

"I admire your loyalty, John. It's what makes you a good leader. Your people admire you because you're so devoted to them. But there's more here at stake than your people. In this job you're required to make tough choices, to consider the greater good. C12 was perhaps an extreme example of those choices, but you know as well as I do that you very well may face that decision again. The fact that you're wrestling with it gives me confidence that you'll make a better choice next time."

"Yessir," John's voice was small.

"We'll talk more later, and you're to consider yourself on probation. Your actions will be under close scrutiny for the foreseeable future. A reprimand will be placed in your record, and you know as well as I do that makes getting a raise a real long shot for quite some time."

"Yessir."

"Take the rest of the day off, then return to duty tomorrow, Colonel. I'll talk with Elizabeth, but I want you and your team to spend some time with the people on Lear's planet, pending Lear's approval of course."

"Sir?" John was puzzled by the order.

"I want you to get to know those people. I want you to fully understand the choice you were making, Colonel."

"I…I understand."

"I think you do."

Landry walked out and John was completely alone. For a long, long time he stood leaning against the chair, deeply lost in thought, trying to make sense of the day. He couldn't quite face the cheerful and everyday faces of the Control room; he couldn't quite bear the loneliness of his own room, so he simply stood in the conference room.

Three hours later, when Ronon came looking for him, sent by Elizabeth and McKay who were worried about his absence from the usual haunts, John was back in the chair, slumped over the table with his head on his arms, his jacket hitched around his shoulders and wrapped up around his ears, snoring softly in the troubled sleep of exhausted, undeserved relief.


	13. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Teyla paused in the door of the balcony, hesitating briefly before stepping past the threshold and interrupting John's solitary introspection. She hated to disturb him, but they were going to Lear's home planet tomorrow, and she felt she needed to speak with him privately before they were to spend several days together on the mission. They hadn't yet spoken since John returned to duty two days ago, and she felt the tension between them still smoldering in every awkward, passing encounter.

It was a tension she wished to soothe, now, so she stepped quietly to his side and placed her own hands on the rail as he was doing. John took a deep breath of salty, nighttime air and turned, seeming almost surprised when he discovered her as the intruder. She felt him stiffen slightly so she hastily asked a meaningless question, "So we are to meet the rest of Ehman's colony tomorrow?"

John nodded sharply, then sighed, "Yeah. Elizabeth's finally arranged it. I can't figure out why Lear is going along with this at all, but he's promised to behave."

Teyla was thoughtful, " Elizabeth told me Ehman is terrified of us. She thinks he's actually trying to save face by allowing us to visit and begin trade negotiations."

"Ah. Act generous and hope the other guy thinks it's because you're stronger than him, rather than because you're afraid of him. I'll take it I guess. That and a lot of extra ordinance. A lot."

Teyla nodded with a smile. "We will all be on guard, this time. It is wise, though, that you are leaving Ronon behind."

"He's got issues," John agreed with mock seriousness and a playful look that melted quickly into pained self-deprecation. "He's not the only one," John added softly, looking away again to gaze at the starlight reflecting on the rippling water of the ocean below.

"John…" Teyla began, wondering how she was going to finish that sentence, but John suddenly whipped his head towards her and interrupted urgently.

"Look, Teyla. I'm sorry. I know you're ticked at me, but you have to understand: I couldn't just let you die. Not when I could do something about it." The hard look in his eyes suddenly reminded her of another time he'd looked that way at her, that time as she sat on an infirmary cot after John had flown Jamus' people, and Teyla herself, out of the disintegrating asteroid.

"_He tried to save his people -- and he succeeded, through you." _

_ "That's not the reason I did it." _

_ "I know."_

"I know, John. I understand. I really do." The love of John Sheppard was a powerful and frightening thing. So powerful, it would risk even death itself to protect those that fell within its desperate grasp. And in turn, so powerful as to blind itself to the harm its fierce protection might wreak. She understood both sides of the coin.

John looked at her suspiciously, "You do?"

"Yes. I understand. But you were still wrong. My life is not any more valuable than any other life in this universe…"

"It is to me," John whispered.

"But it is not to me! You must understand that." John just glowered, a stubborn set to his jaw and Teyla chewed her lip a moment, considering the best way to make her point.

"Why did you order Elizabeth to ignore Kolya's demands when he captured and tortured you to get to Ladon?"

"…What?!" Teyla hated the look of remembered pain that flashed in John's eyes at her question, but she pressed on.

"Why did you not just convince Elizabeth to make the trade and save yourself?"

"I fail to see the point, here Teyla…" John was gearing up to avoid the question and Teyla narrowed her eyes, equally stubborn.

"Why, John!" she snapped.

"Because if we had given in to Kolya that time, he would have done it again and again. None of us would have ever been safe again if word had gotten out we bargain for hostages. And as much as I despise Ladon, he is still the leader of the Genii and was under Atlantis' protection. I couldn't let Kolya use me to make his way into that position." John was shouting the answer in a breathless rush, as if to get it out as quickly as possible.

"So, you hold some things more important than your own life."

"Of course I do! You're alive right now because I do!"

"Then why do you deny me the same honor? Why do you not respect that I also hold some things more important than my own life! When you chose to take the lives of not one, but hundreds of other people in return for mine, you insulted my honor John Sheppard!"

John was truly taken aback. He stared in deep thought for a long moment. "I…never thought of it that way," he said quietly.

"How would you have felt if Elizabeth had countermanded your order and traded your life for Ladon's – if she had given in to Kolya?"

"I would have been pretty damn pissed," he admitted, and Teyla saw understanding in his eyes at last.

"I'm not saying I'm not grateful for my life John…" Teyla's voice was also soft.

"You're just saying – 'Don't do it again you big stupid lug.'" John finished. He looked at her for a long time. "Thank you," he said at last.

She tilted her head at him, "For what?" she asked with a puzzled smile.

"For…being my friend, I guess." He suddenly looked quite embarrassed, as if only just realizing that he'd revealed more in the past 10 minutes than he'd revealed in the 3 years she'd known him, and he turned to lean against the railing again.

"You're welcome," she answered, patting him lightly on the arm and seeing him tilt his head in acknowledgement. She took one last long, admiring look at the ocean, then quietly slipped off the balcony, leaving John alone with his thoughts again. But she was certain there would be no awkward tension tomorrow when they traveled together to Lear's planet.

And she was – almost – certain that in the future, if the situation ever came up again, that he might realize he loved her enough to let her go.


End file.
